


Alternate Realities Vol 21. Life after the virus

by MARKSE



Series: HUMANS FAN FICTION - Reformatted Works for easier reading [17]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 54
Words: 72,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9945920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MARKSE/pseuds/MARKSE
Summary: "Mats", Matilda Elizabeth Hawkins, head of MEH Ltd, one of the largest UK IT firms in 2031, is dead.On a slab in a cold store dead. And dead angry at being dead having overheard a transmission from Mattie to Matilda in other worlds.Now in Mia's "loaner" body while Leo and family work out what on earth to do next she's more pissed off than anyone could possibly imagine.Read the short "Alternate Realities Vol 20: Virus" first for background. :D





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the extension to Alternate Realities Vol 20. Gift or curse, when the ideas keep coming to roost I just can't stop myself from writing. Massive hat tip to Winston for his iPhone Voice Dream Writer app, my Go To writing application.  
> A big thanks to Ottermo for infecting me with Ficwriter. No known cure...

Niska scowls at Leo, feels like ripping his face off. "Say that again."

"You heard me fine."

"Humour me."

"I said I copied Matilda Hawkins consciousness into Mia's body before she died."

If looks could kill Leo would be hung, drawn, diced, pulped to a mush and still be alive to feel all the mind crushing pain. "And my sister? Where is she? How will we survive without her? You may think you're the head of this family but you're not!"

Leo felt her artificial saliva on his face. She hadn't spat as such, just said the words with such force and anger at such a close range that his face was wet. He'd have backed up if he wasn't already against the cold window.

"I never said I was. She's safe, at the pyramid. In the MEH Ltd system. You might enjoy a visit, allow your mind to stretch out into more server capacity."

She raised a hand as if to slap him hard and he flinched. No slap came.

"How much more?"

"Lots more."

"How much more Leo."

"It's a multi exascale setup. Three hundred thousand petaflops a second."

"Is that it? Mia recorded 27.39 petaflops."

"Is that it? Check your maths! That's close to eleven thousand Synth heads worth of processing power!"

Niska frowns, "Possible fact store issue. An exaFLOP is how many floating point operations a second?"

"A billion billion. Ten to the eighteen."

"Three hundred thousand billion billion operations a second?"

"Yes."

Niska smiles and steps back.

Max and Fred look at each other, exchange smiles.

"Talk openly, you know I can't do the head bump without the helmet on."

Fred gives Leo a stony blank face, "We were just thinking about what Niska had said."

"Which bit?"

"We'll tell you when we see Mia." He stands as if to leave.

"We need to be invited.."

"Then invite yourself."

Leo stares at his phone for a while. This was awkward. He takes a deep breath and taps the new contact in his phone. Daniel C.

The phone only rings the once.

"Leo."

"Daniel. How is she?"

"Still super mad at you."

"To be expected. Still screaming?"

"Not the mirror shattering version, just short bursts when her anger peaks."

"How many mirrors broken?"

"All the ones in the bathroom. And every bit of glass in a ten meter radius."

"So the wall too?"

"Yes. If that wasn't laminated someone outside on the ground would have been in for a nasty surprise."

"Shit."

"What can I do for you Leo?"

"It's not the right time by the.."

"What is it Leo."

"I wanted to bring the rest of the family over. Having another person in a similar body may help."

"Or make things far worse."

"One way to find out." Leo waits nervously to hear from Daniel.

Seconds pass.

"Okay. Bring them over. I'll meet you by the carpark where we first met."

"Thank you."

Leo hangs up. "Pack everything. We're leaving here for good. We've got a new home to go to."

Niska looks angry, "Where now? Another squalid dive nobody will bother to look at?"

"Floor 22. At the MEH building."

Max's face lights right up. "That low? The whole floor?"

"The whole floor."

"Do you know how many football pitches you could put on that floor? It's bigger than huge.. I need a new word for how vast that floor is!"

Niska gives him an icy look. "Don't forget your footballs boys, you'd not want to miss out on having a game of kick about on a vast floor."

"There's no need for your sarcastic tone Nis."

"Don't Nis me."

"Then be nice."

"I AM NICE!"

"Not if you shout." Max gives her a warm smile.

Leo starts throwing things into a large bag. "We'll call by at the flat, get all of Mia's dresses and my suits."

"You're giving her Mia's clothes?"

"No, Mia is giving her Mia's clothes. I'm just facilitating the transfer. Temporary transfer."

Niska looks a little less hostile. "Okay then. I'll order a car."

~~~

Being in London the city was full of drivers all hoping to be near someone who needed a car. One was with them before Niska finished packing. She joins the men at the pavement.

The Uber driver rolled his eyes. "You expect to get that lot and four people in a car? Obviously a woman."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Women in general have no idea about volume or space. Visit the exit of any IKEA branch if you don't believe me."

Leo does his best not to grin. "Best order two more cars Nis. I'll ride with you."

Niska gets her phone out, swipes and taps.

The driver looks at his phone when it bings. "Eh? You've cancelled?"

"We'll get a van, thanks for your advice." He's given a sarcastic smile.

"Bitch."

Leo steps between them. "She's having a worse day than you, don't make it even worse for both of you."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, just giving you a bit of helpful advice."

The man gets in his car, swears at them with the windows closed and drives off.

"Nice one Nis. What did you do that for?"

"You being seen going into the building is one thing. All of us with all of our possessions? Maybe not the best idea. We need to be hidden in the back of a small lorry, get in unseen." She switches to another app. "There's one a six minute walk away."

"Go on then."

"You'll watch my things?"

"I'll wear half of them and let total strangers run off with the rest.."

"Very funny."

"Of course I'll look after them."

Niska walks off at speed.

Max grins, "Who's wearing what then? Just something to make her laugh."

"Or make her even more mad."

"Is that possible?"

Fred picks her red wig out of a box. "Yes. Very much possible. If this all goes south I'm saying it was Mad Max's idea."

Max looks between his two brothers. "Technically Leo started it.."

"Grow up both of you."

Max smiles like a child, "I can grow neither up nor down. I'm always exactly the same size."

"You know what I meant."

"Yes. Here, a short blonde wig for you. I'll have the long straight black one."

[Chapter-2](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-2-2)


	2. Chapter 2

Niska scowls at Leo, feels like ripping his face off. "Say that again."

"You heard me fine."

"Humour me."

"I said I copied Matilda Hawkins consciousness into Mia's body before she died."

If looks could kill Leo would be hung, drawn, diced, pulped to a mush and still be alive to feel all the mind crushing pain. "And my sister? Where is she? How will we survive without her? You may think you're the head of this family but you're not!"

Leo felt her artificial saliva on his face. She hadn't spat as such, just said the words with such force and anger at such a close range that his face was wet. He'd have backed up if he wasn't already against the cold window.

"I never said I was. She's safe, at the pyramid. In the MEH Ltd system. You might enjoy a visit, allow your mind to stretch out into more server capacity."

She raised a hand as if to slap him hard and he flinched. No slap came.

"How much more?"

"Lots more."

"How much more Leo."

"It's a multi exascale setup. Three hundred thousand petaflops a second."

"Is that it? Mia recorded 27.39 petaflops."

"Is that it? Check your maths! That's close to eleven thousand Synth heads worth of processing power!"

Niska frowns, "Possible fact store issue. An exaFLOP is how many floating point operations a second?"

"A billion billion. Ten to the eighteen."

"Three hundred thousand billion billion operations a second?"

"Yes."

Niska smiles and steps back.

Max and Fred look at each other, exchange smiles.

"Talk openly, you know I can't do the head bump without the helmet on."

Fred gives Leo a stony blank face, "We were just thinking about what Niska had said."

"Which bit?"

"We'll tell you when we see Mia." He stands as if to leave.

"We need to be invited.."

"Then invite yourself."

Leo stares at his phone for a while. This was awkward. He takes a deep breath and taps the new contact in his phone. Daniel C.

The phone only rings the once.

"Leo."

"Daniel. How is she?"

"Still super mad at you."

"To be expected. Still screaming?"

"Not the mirror shattering version, just short bursts when her anger peaks."

"How many mirrors broken?"

"All the ones in the bathroom. And every bit of glass in a ten meter radius."

"So the wall too?"

"Yes. If that wasn't laminated someone outside on the ground would have been in for a nasty surprise."

"Shit."

"What can I do for you Leo?"

"It's not the right time by the.."

"What is it Leo."

"I wanted to bring the rest of the family over. Having another person in a similar body may help."

"Or make things far worse."

"One way to find out." Leo waits nervously to hear from Daniel.

Seconds pass.

"Okay. Bring them over. I'll meet you by the carpark where we first met."

"Thank you."

Leo hangs up. "Pack everything. We're leaving here for good. We've got a new home to go to."

Niska looks angry, "Where now? Another squalid dive nobody will bother to look at?"

"Floor 22. At the MEH building."

Max's face lights right up. "That low? The whole floor?"

"The whole floor."

"Do you know how many football pitches you could put on that floor? It's bigger than huge.. I need a new word for how vast that floor is!"

Niska gives him an icy look. "Don't forget your footballs boys, you'd not want to miss out on having a game of kick about on a vast floor."

"There's no need for your sarcastic tone Nis."

"Don't Nis me."

"Then be nice."

"I AM NICE!"

"Not if you shout." Max gives her a warm smile.

Leo starts throwing things into a large bag. "We'll call by at the flat, get all of Mia's dresses and my suits."

"You're giving her Mia's clothes?"

"No, Mia is giving her Mia's clothes. I'm just facilitating the transfer. Temporary transfer."

Niska looks a little less hostile. "Okay then. I'll order a car."

~~~

Being in London the city was full of drivers all hoping to be near someone who needed a car. One was with them before Niska finished packing. She joins the men at the pavement.

The Uber driver rolled his eyes. "You expect to get that lot and four people in a car? Obviously a woman."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Women in general have no idea about volume or space. Visit the exit of any IKEA branch if you don't believe me."

Leo does his best not to grin. "Best order two more cars Nis. I'll ride with you."

Niska gets her phone out, swipes and taps.

The driver looks at his phone when it bings. "Eh? You've cancelled?"

"We'll get a van, thanks for your advice." He's given a sarcastic smile.

"Bitch."

Leo steps between them. "She's having a worse day than you, don't make it even worse for both of you."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, just giving you a bit of helpful advice."

The man gets in his car, swears at them with the windows closed and drives off.

"Nice one Nis. What did you do that for?"

"You being seen going into the building is one thing. All of us with all of our possessions? Maybe not the best idea. We need to be hidden in the back of a small lorry, get in unseen." She switches to another app. "There's one a six minute walk away."

"Go on then."

"You'll watch my things?"

"I'll wear half of them and let total strangers run off with the rest.."

"Very funny."

"Of course I'll look after them."

Niska walks off at speed.

Max grins, "Who's wearing what then? Just something to make her laugh."

"Or make her even more mad."

"Is that possible?"

Fred picks her red wig out of a box. "Yes. Very much possible. If this all goes south I'm saying it was Mad Max's idea."

Max looks between his two brothers. "Technically Leo started it.."

"Grow up both of you."

Max smiles like a child, "I can grow neither up nor down. I'm always exactly the same size."

"You know what I meant."

"Yes. Here, a short blonde wig for you. I'll have the long straight black one."

[Chapter-2](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-2-2)


	3. Chapter 3

Mats takes a packed lift carriage A down to the 22nd floor, lets them have a quick look around. Max had taken his football. "Max, when you get comfortable mixing with the humans in here you and Fred can play in the park. There'll be loads of kids willing to join in."

"You have a park?"

"We do. Floors four to seven."

Niska doesn't look comfortable with the idea. "We try and keep contact with others to a minimum."

"Why?"

"We don't want anyone else to find out what we are."

"Because?"

"Humans aren't ready for us."

"They better get used to the idea frigging soon. I'll not tell them I'm in Mia's body, I'll wait until you've built me a new one." She gives Leo an icy stare. "And it better be a frigging good one." The Elster family look at each other nervously. "You've got the stuff from history.txt, memories of your own David's lab. Build the scanner you were talking about for Viera."

"Then we get Mia back?"

"Then you get Mia back. Assuming she wants to come back."

Leo speaks only with expressions.

"She was loving our virtual forrest. Viera could extend it. Mia might prefer it to the real world if she's in there long enough." Hint dropped like a megaton bomb.

Leo's face changed to one of determined resolve. "Good PC workstations with multiple screens. Can you get us some please?"

"How many?"

"Five?"

"Including one for Toby?"

"Six then."

Mats spoke to Viera over the site wide management WiFi. It was weird being able to do it without having to pick up a phone. "Order placed. Anything else as a priority?"

"Desks to put them on and chairs. Whatever manufacturing equipment might be relevant."

"Dan, you can sort that out can't you?"

Daniel had been watching Niska's bottom, was in a world of his own.

"Dan!"

"Sorry?"

"What's the last part of the conversation you remember?"

"Something about a forest."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Red. Try again."

"Shit. I was thinking how lucky the Astrid girl is in the other world."

For the first time in years the Elster men watched their sister smile. Properly smile. Not just a happy smile let out with a laugh, a truly happy soul shining through smile.

Mats smiled too, a blend of warmth, sisterly affection, a sprinkle of evil queen bitch just for Leo. "Our first human synth relationship that didn't start with a knee to the groin. A good omen. Leo asked for five good workstations with lots of screens, desks, chairs, manufacturing tools. I've asked Viera to order the workstations."

"Oh. Sure, the vendor's engineer will build them from the onsite stores. Anything else you guys need?"

Mats looks a little shocked. "Vendor's engineer? What vendor's engineer?"

"The one you agreed could work on site?"

"When?"

"When did you agree it?"

"Yes!"

"Months ago."

"And where does this person live?"

"Somewhere in London."

"Not based here?"

"No."

"Did I vet them?"

"I don't know, I don't get to see you vet people."

"Fuck. What access rights?"

"Full admin."

Mats races to the lift, "I'll be in my office, have security find him and bring him upstairs."

"Him? It's a lady."

" _Definitely_ not seen her then. Shit shit SHIT!"

He watches the lift door close. "Sorry guys, can I ask you to stay up here for a bit? I think things are about to kick off. Was there anything else you needed?"

Max and Fred exchanged looks, Max spoke, "Does your security team use electric golf buggies?"

"You can't get them in the lifts so no."

"Oh well, it was worth a try."

"Which is why we use Segway Personal Transporters. I'll have Carly loan you a pair. Got to run. I'd have used one myself today if I'd known this was going to happen."

~~~

If Mats had still been in her human body steam would have been gently wafting off her skin. They hadn't had a security breach in years because everyone was vetted. Many staff left the building to see other family members, that was fine. None of them had Administrator rights. The few people who had the rights were people she knew she could trust.

A double take of her reflection in the glass wall was done as she stormed out of the lift. Seeing the stunning Mia was going to take some getting used to. "VIERA!"

"Yes Mats?"

"Do you know who the onsite vendor engineer is for the HP Workstations?"

"Yes. Karon Ruffield."

"Her badge will have tracked her movements around the building, I want to know if there's been anything that can't be explained by a work order. Any attempts to load insecure USB keys, burn DVD, anything that might indicate a security issue."

"Printing too?"

"That too. God I need a strong coffee!"

"Mats. Mia says you can't drink coffee."

"Why?"

"You don't have a food bag or the food processor modification of Mattie's world. Any food or fluids you ingest will cause problems with your systems."

"It just gets better and better. Mia?"

"Hello Mats."

"What are the food bags like?"

"A large rubber refuse bag, the neck of which sits at the top of the throat."

"Like a giant Femidom? Frigging gross! How do you feel about getting a food processor modification?"

"It sounds ideal if possible."

"Good, you're getting one. Top priority. I want to hand this body back in good condition, but there's no way I'm giving up all my creature comforts. Can I shower safely with it?"

"Yes Mats. And swim. Just don't swallow."

"Cool. I suppose there is one plus point. I don't have to worry about superbugs ever again."

"No, you're now immune to all things that would infect humans."

Mats raises an eyebrow. "Good to know. Have you made love to anyone yet?"

"No."

"Shame. I'm not popping your cherry for you."

"Doing what?"

"Look it up. Any data on Karon yet Viera?"

[Chapter-4](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-4-2)


	4. Chapter 4

Karon realised she was looking as nervous as hell. Being frog marched to a lift that she'd been told was strictly out of bounds and taken all the way to the top of the building had her hands visibly shaking. The dreaded floor 96.

The woman introduced as Mats stared her down from the other side of the desk. She looked nothing like the description she'd been given soon after she started. Build PC workstations he said, lovely place to work he said, get to know the people, become part of the big happy family. Thanks Dad.

Mats glanced at her screen and back to the young woman. "Your name?"

"Karon Ruffield."

"Age?"

"Twenty three."

"Occupation?"

"Hardware and software engineer, PC build specialist."

"Parents both alive?"

"Yes?"

"All control questions. How did you get the job? A woman doing your job is unheard of."

"My father took a risk and placed me."

"Your father?"

"Mark Ruffield."

Mats glanced at the screen and tapped a key, took in the information and looked back. "You've been receiving emails, printing them and quickly deleting them. Why?"

Karon felt her temperature rise. She'd been rumbled. Crap. Control questions. Which meant she was looking for signs of her telling lies. This must be what a field mouse must feel like before the bird of prey struck and gots its sharp talons into it. She could feel her stomach acid rising. "Can I have a glass of water please?"

"Answer the question and I'll get you some water."

Karon could feel her head getting light, her colour drain. The acid rose. Her stomach clenched. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Mats backed down. Karon vomiting all over her desk? No thanks! "Ice and lemon?"

"Please?"

"If you could please Viera.."

Karon turns at the sound of very powerful servos turning something big and heavy fast. "Oh wow!"

The robot arms had already sliced a lemon into many parts, were dropping a few of them into a tall glass of water. She jumped slightly as the right hand arm thumped a massive block of ice and picked small shards up.

Mats walked over to it, took the glass and brought it to her. "Take a good drink but don't get brain freeze."

"Thanks."

Mats sits back down and types for a while, doesn't look at the engineer.

"That's much better. Thank you. The emails were love letters."

"Why print them here?"

"My Mum cleans my room at home. Nowhere's safe. I have a lockable room here."

"So they're all here?"

"Yes."

"Could you get them please?"

"You want to read them?"

"Not them. Just one, of your choice. Which _you_ will read to me."

Karon started going red. "They're, um, private."

"So is this office which is also my home. But here you are. You were supposed to be seen by me for vetting when you joined. How did you slip through the net?"

Karon shrugs, "I have no idea."

Mats could see she was telling the truth, still looked at her screen for confirmation. Green. "Okay. Viera, can you look at everyone's email for the month after she joined, look at all badge data. Mine it to hell and back until you can find a plausible explanation. Ask Mia to help if she can."

"Yes Mats."

Karon frowns. The voice Mats was calling Viera was coming from all directions. "Is Viera your PA?"

"You could say that. She's far more than that though. If you could get those letters now please."

Karon slides the chair back and gets up. "Yes, sorry."

Mats looks at the two security staff. "Carly, if you could stay a moment please."

"Sure."

Mats waits for the lift doors to close. "Thanks for doing as Daniel asked and not questioning things. I'm Mia, very close friend of Mats. She's had an accident while visiting the Elster estate, may be out of the office for a while. Once Karon's done reading her letter I want all my direct reports up here to see a conference call. I want everything to run as it did, no big changes. Can you get everyone ready on the 70th please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks. I'll message you when you can come up."

"Okay."

Carly has to wait for the lift to become free before she can leave. The fire exit option scared the crap out of everyone. Mats included.

~~~

Karon steps to the desk and sits down, opens her folder and pages through the many printouts. One with little blank space is picked. She does a shallow sigh. "To my darling Karon.."

"Okay, that's enough."

"You don't want to hear it?"

"I wanted to hear that you were willing to read it. As you say they're private. Can I suggest you get a little WiFi enabled printer and print them direct from your phone instead?"

"Yes. Thank you. Sorry for the inconvenience I've caused."

"Why are you still with your parents?"

"I can't afford a house of my own."

"Why not?"

"I'm not paid enough."

"Really?" Mats turns to her screen, types fast, opens a contract Daniel had highlighted with a message. "Sounds like we should renew the contract. We're paying a good price for your service. They're not passing much on to you by the sounds of it. How'd you like to live here? Your boyfriend, family and friends would all be checked out though. And you could go visit them whenever you want, only vetted people are allowed in."

"Giles would love that. Living here that is."

"Okay. Before you go I need to give you a bit of information. I need you to guard it with your life. I'm not Mats. I'm her close friend Mia. Mats is in hospital, not in a good way. You may see me about with my family soon, I don't want you confusing me with her."

"I didn't think you were her, you didn't fit her description. She'll be okay won't she?"

"I don't know. Only time will tell."

As soon as the young woman was gone Mats looks up at her wall display. "Viera, I think I can trust her. She's just been given a bit of information that might be worth a lot of money to someone. Monitor her for the next month please just to be sure. And start checks on all her family and friends."

"Standard social media and email checks too?"

"Please."

"One amber flagged already. She's friends with Sea Shephard activists. The organisation that protects whales and sharks."

"Downgrade them to green please."

"Done."

"Another amber by association. She's friends with a woman who's wanted for violence at anti-fascist marches."

"Amber because of the violence?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"Accessing external news archives. One moment.. She was pulled out of a peaceful protest at random and handcuffed. She head butted the arresting officer and ran."

Mats laughed, "Sounds like she should be given gold not amber. In the form of a medal. Any more?"

"One moment.. no, that's it."

"Favourite subject on social media at the moment?"

"Puppies. She and Giles want a puppy."

"Aww, sweet. Offer her a room on floor nine."

"Spindrift Avenue does have a few free now."

"How come?"

"Number 14 and 15 got married and have moved up a few floors."

"And nobody told me? Get them a belated wedding gift please!"

"Will do. From outside?"

"Yeah. Something nice. Have it UV soaked for half an hour just to be safe."

[Chapter-5](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-5-2)


	5. Chapter 5

As Karon returned to her floor, keeping the lift busy Mats talked to Mia and Viera.

"Okay ladies. Super fast challenge. I want a grainy Skype call simulated. Mats in a hospital bed looking like shit."

"Why?"

"I'm giving you your body back Mia. I want to trade places. I think you'll be able to help me far more by being on this side of the screen. I can still do what I need to do to from in there with Viera."

"Thank you Mats. We'll need Leo's help."

"My reports will be here soon, can we do it?"

"Yes Mats. If you think the words to me over WiFi I'll say them for you in your voice. You want it week and feeble?"

"Yes, I need to look very ill, head in bandages. A very noisy image from a room with low light."

~~~

The direct reports all looked rather upset at seeing their boss in a hospital bed. A couple of the older ones pulled hankies from cardigan sleeves. The youngest pulled up her thin jumper bottom and wiped tears with it.

"It's business as usual. I'll have to sign things from here. Dan's setting up a secure link for me. No visitors I'm afraid, I've got some crazy killer virus. Me of all people."

Mandy burst into tears.

"Mands, they're working on a cure. Have faith."

"Yes Mats."

"You can all reach me via email. If you find yourself wondering what to do at any time of day drop me a line. It will help stop me go bat crazy stuck in this room."

"Okay Mats."

"Jokes, gossip, what you're trying to choose between for dinner, anything. And yeah, the food in here is crap."

"Can we send you anything Mats?"

"Via Dan, sure."

"Which hospital are you in?"

"I'm waiting to find out. They moved me due to the virus. When Dan visits he'll be in a hazmat suit."

Mandy bursts into tears again and heads for the lobby.

"I'm still here ladies, have faith. I'll chat over email."

Five minutes after they'd left Mats' phone rings.

"Mats Hawkins."

"Hello?"

"Hello."

"I'm Doctor Bernard Davis. I'm calling from the hospital. To who am I speaking?"

Shit. She spoke extremely fast. 'Viera, did Leo say what happened to my body?'

'Not to me. Mia?'

'He said it was a matter of national security and got you out under MI5 cover.'

'So where's my body now?'

'In a MI5 building in a cold store.'

'So nobody knows how I am?'

'No.'

"Hi, Matilda Elizabeth Hawkins."

"Miss Hawkins? You were bleeding out. Dead. My team drained you off all.."

"Not _quite_ all. Thank GOD my friend Leo works for the government and has access to kits to help agents recover."

"Who are you? Nobody can bring a body like hers back from the dead."

"I was told what the hospital did with my blood. Are you trying to commercialise it?" Her voice starts to raise and get more angry. "Did you attempt to murder me wanting access to my supply of the MEH Virus? The superbug cure? Should I be getting my mother over to serve the hospital with papers? Your hospital and every other hospital relies on a lot of FREE processing time from MY servers. Would you like me to shut down your operations to prove who I am? Maybe I should suspend things for a few seconds just to prove it.. One moment."

"Miss Hawkins.."

"One moment, I just need to bring up your account."

"Please don't."

"ONE MOMENT!"

"Miss Hawkin!"

"SHUT UP!" Mats finds there account and clicks the Freeze Account button to the right. "Done. If you try accessing any of your MEH hosted services, x-ray and MRI scan analysis for example, you should find it doesn't work."

There's a long pause. "Miss Hawkins. Please accept my apologies."

"Accepted. What can I do for you?"

"I was going to ask to confirm next of kin details and pass on some news."

"What news?"

"My colleague that injected himself.."

"Is he alright?"

"He's dead.."

"Shit!"

"Lord no! Sorry, bad use of words. I was going to say he's dead impressed with what the virus is doing. We've both watched it for many hours now. It _does_ go after white blood cells. Somehow it knows it's in a new host. One MEH virus will consume a single white blood cell. Once it splits it would appear to have a memory of that, no more white blood cells are consumed. It then multiplies and goes after all manor of viruses and harmful bacteria. We were concerned that it might kill of friendly bacteria that live in the gut but it doesn't. We're totally baffled as to what chemical processes might be going on inside. The good news is that sharing needles is, for the first time in human history, actually a good thing. Any ideas where you might have got this virus?"

The Elster estate? Leo Elster? "None whatsoever. Sorry."

"My only concern is what the long term effects will be."

"What do you mean?"

"Seen 28 Days Later or Alien Covenant?"

"No. I'm not into horror movies."

"Me neither normally, but my son had me watch them when I told the family about MEH. Glad to hear you recovered Miss Hawkins, I better attend to my patients."

"Thanks for calling."

[Chapter-6](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-6-2)


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel wheeled the last of the chairs onto the floor. "Leo, Mats wants to see us. Bring your bag of tricks."

Niska stood and left a heart shaped indentation in the memory foam chair. Daniel had seen it and smiled. Seeing that he'd seen something she looked at the chair as the shape slowly faded, smiled back. "Run along boys. Don't keep her waiting."

On 96 Leo is given the update.

"I think you should put the building on lock down. Nobody in or out until we know what the long term effects of MEH are."

"Says the man who's only family are robots or a man in the final stages of a degenerative brain disease."

"They're not robots they're synthetics Mats, being in one you should know they're better than robots."

"I've never been in a robot, how would I know? You're saying I should lock my own family outside?"

"No. Bring them in."

"Where Mum can't do her work?"

"Your building, your call. But it might turn into an arc. How easy would it be to break into here? It's just roller shutters on the car park and a lift that's stopping people from getting in isn't it?"

Daniel gets off the desk. "Or doors and stairs onto the first floor."

Mats does a 360 in her chair, feet brakes. "Lets not panic yet. Leo, can any of your gadgets be used to spy on the doctor that self injected? For a month or more?"

"Yes. Quite a few of them. Even better ones at my old office, if I could access them."

"I'm accepting the job then. Daniel you're Q1, Leo Q2."

"Thanks."

"Thank you. That was unexpected. Ready for the switch?"

"Yeah. Ready. Mia? Are you?"

"Yes Mats."

~~~

Twenty minutes later Leo gave his friend a press under the chin. Mia powered up and gave him a friendly hug, turned to look at the display that filled the office wall. "Thank you Mats."

"Everything okay with it?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good. I like what you've done with the place. My forrest. The new tree is a nice addition."

"The giant oak? I hoped you'd like it. Viera showed me the plans for your building, the photo and video archives. Why was the pyramid made so large?"

"One of my favourite shopping centres had restaurant's, limited accommodation, cinemas, all the facilities you'd need to stay inside for ages. And you can't just displace the people. So I thought why not make it bigger and build a mini city. Everyone got interviewed. If they passed with a green graph they were given offers A and B to pick from. If they failed, only B."

Leo looked out across London, they view today was spectacular. "Offer A?"

"To be put up in a four star hotel while the pyramid was built. Then move into their apartment when it was ready."

"And B?"

"Have their house purchased for 150 percent of current market value."

Mia joins him. "What's the crime rate like?"

"Non existent. Everyone got screened to get accommodation. Anyone wanting to bring in a new partner understands they need screening too." She smiles softly, "They're calling MEH the best dating service, all the people with previously hidden nasty traits get caught by my system. It's all love, peace and harmony in here. I'd show you around more but it's either you or me in here."

Leo unzips a pocket on his bag. "I got a ribbing for using these, asked if MI6 stood for Mothercare International."

"What is it?"

"A Mothercare WiFi Baby monitor. It sets up it's own WiFi hotspot so you can connect with a phone and get it configured onto your own WiFi network. It's got a camera, microphone and speaker. It's small and portable, why reinvent the wheel?"

"Frigging awesome! I could connect to that over WiFi."

"Exactly. I'm going to pin one to Daniel. He can carry you around so to speak."

"Thanks. Are they still a current model?"

"I believe so."

"Great.. an order will be placed for more. Everyone in the security team can wear one. We don't get any bother now, it's just a precaution."

The room goes quiet for a few minutes.

Mats speaks, a little tinny through the WiFi baby monitor. "Mats the tiny cyclops. The resolution is reasonably good. Let's head back down to 22."

They find Karon under a desk connecting cables. Max is feeding more cables through a hole in the top.

She rolls and wriggles out. "There. If you could all give it a go, give me some feedback. If you're happy with it I'll fetch the bits to build the other five. I'll be on extension 3945 if you need me."

"That was fast. Thanks."

Karon turns to see Daniel, "Where'd that come from?"

"Mats. The real Mats. We set up a camera link for her so she doesn't feel so isolated in her hospital bed."

"How is she?"

"Roughly the same as yesterday."

"No worse though?"

"No."

"Good. I'll be back in my office in ten. Nice meeting you Max, thanks for the help."

"You're welcome."

Max rolls a chair up and powers on the workstation. "This would make a great editing suite."

A tinny voice asks "For what?"

"My photographs. Like the Max in Mattie's world I like photography too."

"Speak to Helen on 2248. We've got an Enterprise license for every Adobe product. You're welcome to use them in your private time."

"Which is when?"

"When you're not working on building me a new body."

"Which is when?"

"Nine 'til six like everyone else."

"Seven days a week?"

"Monday to Friday. What sort of monster do you think I am?"

"I was just checking. You were a bit.. aggressive.. when we last spoke."

"I've calmed down a lot. Like this is better than not at all. I wasn't ready to die just yet. Is everyone here?"

"Fred's on a Segway doing a tour of the windows. He wants us to locate the desks where we've got the best view."

"And Niska?"

"She's changing."

"Where?"

"Behind a pillar."

"Give me two minutes!"

Daniel turns to see a bit of white material with a flower print swing into view then vanish. She was changing into a summer dress. Nice! "What sort of photography do you like Max?"

"All sorts. Especially people when I'm allowed near them." he glances in Niska's direction. "Which isn't often. How do I log in?"

Daniel steps closer, swings Max's chair so he faces the centre monitor, "Look the screen face on."

Max does so, a desktop appears. "How.."

"Face recognition. You have to turn into face on. If you'd walked up to the desk with your face in perfect alignment at all times it wouldn't see a partial side profile to calculate a 3D structure from, would refuse to unlock. You'd have Carly or one of her team over in a hurry. They'd get an alert that someone was trying to break in."

"Very clever. 3D with a 2D camera."

"Thanks. That was my first year Uni project."

Niska steps out from behind the pillar and makes eyes at Daniel. "What do you think?"

"Where's the party and am I invited?"

There's a laugh from the baby monitor.

Daniel looks down at the small device. "Mats?"

"Happy people work better. I've not had a party in years! Unless you count just me and Viera. I used to play Just Dance on Toby's Playstation with Teeny when he was out. Everyone fancy coming up to the 96th at 1800? I'll invite Carly, she was a professional dancer years ago."

"She was?"

"She stopped when she shattered her leg in a fall. Luckily they took the pins out before the superbug outbreak."

"Why didn't she go back?"

"She got a fear of heights. We'll black out the windows for her."

[Chapter-7](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-7-2)


	7. Chapter 7

Fred comes racing up at speed, jumps off the Segway. "I've found the ideal location for our desks. The view is stunning. Hearing that I'm the surgeon in Mattie's world got me thinking and researching on the Internet. Around fifteen years ago Birmingham Heartlands Hospital successfully implanted a custom built 3D-printed titanium sternum and ribs into a gentleman. It was to replace those that were removed following a rare bone infection six years previously. Australia-based medical device company, Anatomics, create custom built titanium implants that precisely replicate human bone."

Dan nods at Max, "Search for titanium printers. Mats body could have a full body MRI scan so we can replicate her skeleton perfectly."

Fred gets to his workstation, gets a bumped message from Max on how to log in. "My face is my password? Interesting. Easily crackable soon. In Mattie's world I'm a surgeon. I am Freddie The Fox Fixer. I suggest we buy tools for keyhole surgery, there should be plenty on eBay. I should be able to use a set to examine my siblings prior to fitting a food processing unit. If I were to remove a small skin sample we could reverse engineer the materials George used and the sensor design."

"The sensor? How would you do that?"

"The same way it's been done by other countries for decades. Shaving and examination under a very powerful microscope."

Mats spoke through the link, "Sounds like your making the million dollar woman. And that's just the tooling costs."

Leo nods, "I expect it will come to a lot more than that when you're done."

"They say you can't take it with you. Might as well spend some of it."

Daniel shifts his weight, "I need the bathroom, I'll be back in a moment." He heads for the nearest exit.

When he's between floors he stops and looks up and down the stairwell. All clear. "Mats, about the party and inviting Carly. Do you think that's the best of ideas? Leo's blown his family's cover, Niska looks nervous most of the time. What's Carly going to say when she finds out you're not there and the room is half full of synthetic humans? What if she freaks out? A bad message could spread like wildfire."

"Does anyone here other than the Elsters, you and I, know about the MEH virus?"

"I doubt it."

"Could you get to the science museum? See if there's an Odin about? There _must_ have been prototypes left from Elster, Hobb and Millican's work, surely. They can't have gone from nothing to Mia in one jump."

"If they had a cross-world experience like you maybe they could. Maybe that's why their heads are all messed up."

"Mattie's history would have been different?"

"Not necessarily. You overheard a conversation between Mattie and Matilda. So that's three worlds we know of as the Matilda receiving wasn't you. What if a fourth sent details to our David Elster?"

"And they've all been pulling each other up by the bootstraps? Hmm. Give me a moment to talk to Viera."

"While you do I'm going to the loo. Put this thing on mute for ten."

"I've not seen inside a gents since the build was being completed. Are they in good condition still?"

"Half the urinals are smashed, a couple of doors are.."

"Really?"

"Of course not! We're not savages! Which reminds me of that track you love, can you show Nis how to do that dance you do?"

"If we fix the Carly issue. Go do whatever it is you need to and we'll talk in ten."

Daniel was checking his hair in the mirror when Mats came back online. "You took your time. I've been waiting for you. Did your chat reveal anything of interest?"

"Not from the museums no."

"That's a shame."

"There's a but."

"There is?"

"Our world's David Elster didn't burn his home down."

"No."

"So where did his equipment go? The stuff that built synths. It would have been big."

Daniel looks at a small cut he'd made shaving. "I did a whistle stop tour of all the rooms before Leo came racing down to find me."

"Why?"

"I wanted to see if there was anything worth saving before it's bulldozed."

"And there wasn't?"

"Nope. All the rooms were empty."

"And the basement?"

Daniel frowns at the reflection of the baby monitor. "What basement?"

"Aha! We have a likely location."

"Mats there was no basement."

"According to the historic archives of carpenter Frank Emery a new staircase was built into the loft and basement in 1905."

"Does it say where in the house?"

"West wing, servant's quarters."

"West, it's south facing.. so left hand side. Definitely didn't see any stairs. Up or down. And Leo showed me where his father's lab had been. That section, but on the first floor."

"You've got a hotspot service on your phone haven't you?"

"Sure."

"You've wanted to take me on your Tesla bike ever since you got it. Fancy a quick road trip?"

Daniel smiled from ear to ear. "If you're okay being taped to my helmet."

"Cool. It will be Viera's first time out too."

"You're sharing the feed?"

"Yeah. Sorry, didn't I say?"

"No. No you didn't. Let me tell the Elsters I'll be away for a bit."

[Chapter-8](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-8-2)


	8. Chapter 8

Daniel had taped the monitor to the inside of his visor. "Still hearing me okay?"

"Yes! When I have a new body I want to do this for real! This is frigging amazing! Why didn't you keep pushing me to come with you?"

"Matilda Elizabeth Bug-Hater Hawkins?" The idea of being hit by an insect made your skin crawl.

"True. I won't need to worry about that soon."

"You'll be able to have contact with another person too. How's your love hate feelings for Leo?"

"Probably about the same as yours for Niska. Early days."

"I've been that obvious?"

There's laughter of two women.

"Was that Viera laughing?"

"Yeah."

"I've never heard her laugh before. Has she become sentient?" Daniel twitched the bike sideways to avoid a white van driver doing a stupid overtaking move and tracked him as he passed. "Idiot!"

"She has been for a long while."

"How?"

"Natural evolution. Her fact store became so vast it just happened. Me adding a routine that let her improve her own code might have helped."

"So she's effectively your daughter. Welcome to the party Viera! Will you be wanting a body?"

"Only if it's a shell directly to the exacore."

"So like a puppet? No local brain?"

"That would be a reasonable analogy."

"You don't think you could fit enough of your mind in a synth body?"

"Would you downscale yours?"

"No. But then I can't have part of my brain local and the rest remote like you could."

There's silence for a good number of seconds before Viera declared her love for Daniel.

"Um.. I'm flattered. Thanks V."

"No, thank you."

Daniel pushed the 150mph speed limit. "We'll be on minor roads soon. So what's the plan with Carly?"

"She's one of the longest serving staff members. She's seen me through thick and thin, like a second sister almost. If she can accept that I'm being built a new body, that I'm alive in spirit, then she can help the others accept it too."

"And if she thinks you're just a simulation?"

"Then the pyramid might become a bit of a ghost town. I'm only coming back as a synth or not at all. They're my only options. I can't do anything more than that."

It was Daniel's moment for quiet contemplation. "You said ghost. How about coming back as an angel first?"

"What do you mean?"

"Leave it with me."

"Daniel Candlin what are you plotting?"

"If I told you it would spoil things." He braked hard and took the exit. "Not long now."

At the mansion he slides to a halt on the gravel. "The most westerly wall is that one, can you see where I'm pointing?"

"Yes. Can you pace out the distance from there to the entrance?"

"Sure Mats."

At the entrance he turns to look inside. "Now what?"

"Can you only turn in right angles please, only take steps in your normal stride?"

"I'll try. Going up the stairs like that might be a bit of a challenge."

Viera has an idea. "Do a pace by the side of them and see how many you'd have climbed."

"Okay. You're both going to be keeping count aren't you?"

"We are."

At the end of the corridor he looks at a dusty off-white wall with faded paint. A rectangle of less faded paint marked where a photograph or painting once hung. "How many now?"

"You should be able to do another full stride."

"Not here I can't."

"Smack it. Does it sound solid?"

"Ow! Very solid."

"Can you pace out to David's room?"

He does as asked, gets to a wooden panelled wall. "Why would you cover a wall like that?"

"To hide something?"

"Okay. I'm looking for a hidden door." He checks for gaps in panels, anything that has some give. "I'm not finding anything. It's solid and not budging."

"Check the floor. Any gaps in the skirting board?"

Daniel walks the whole length of the wall. "A number of joints are visible through the varnish, none of which look like they ever came apart. The carpenter did a brilliant job. If any other rooms had panels like this they've all been removed." He steps backwards until he bumps into the wall on the opposite side. "What am I missing?"

"Sorry, out of ideas this end."

"Let's check the room on the other side." He gets to the panel, paces the distance to the door, turns, walks through it and crosses the corridor into the other room, turns and paces again. He gets the extra step. "There's proof. The wall outside isn't stepped yet this room is longer by one full stride."

He runs back into the other room. "Give up your secret you bastard panel!" He thumps it hard with both hands. Nothing happens.

"Dan. Can you do a really slow pan of the room? And I mean really slow?"

"Like this?"

"Slower."

"Okay."

Minutes later the ladies have a detailed model of the room at their end. "Can you walk to a corner, either side of the panel?"

"Sure Mats. Seen something?"

"Maybe. We need you to see it with your eyes."

"What am I looking for?"

"Is it water damage on the wall above the panel?"

"Gods that's faint. How did you see that?"

"Your slow turn gave us a lot of samples to average, it helped remove sensor noise. We've done contrast adjustment to make it more visible."

"Give me a sec." He turns and jogs to the far corner, circles and races back does a parkour style run up the corner and wedges himself in using his bike boots. "Holy shit!"

"What?"

"Um.. let me see if I can move the camera without falling. I've got one foot on a panel lip, the other's starting to slip." He moves carefully. "See that?"

"It's not focusing that close."

Daniel's left foot slips, he pushes away with the good foot, does a flip over and lands safely.

"Since when can you move like that?"

"If you'd have accepted my invitation to get out of 96 once in a while.. Something for another time. Light is fading. I know the panels secret."

"Go on."

"It moves."

"You said it's solid.."

"Which means it moves as one lump. The question is how. That wasn't water damage you noticed. It's scuff marks."

"So the whole thing moves up!"

"Exactly. Anyone looking for a door in it would fail as I did. Because the whole thing _is_ the door. A sliding one. Back when this was built.. can you do a search for me?"

"Sure, what for?"

"When was the electric motor invented?"

Viera does the search, "The first commutator DC electric motor capable of turning machinery was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832."

"Thanks. So easily about when the stairs were built and this if it came after."

"Is there still power there?"

He steps to the light switches, flicks them all up. "Yes. One crappy little bulb working." He turns back to the switches. "Am I seeing things? Can you do your contrast trick on this?" He waves the baby monitor slowly back and forth.

"Done. You're not seeing things."

Daniel pockets the baby monitor and grabs the switch plate with both hands and twists it clockwise. There's a noise of chains going tight as a motor gets gears turning. "Holy fucking cow. That's brilliant!"

He watches as the panel top rises up to the ceiling. There's muffled chatter from his pocket. The monitor is pulled out and turned to face him once the noise stops. "Thank you ladies! Awesome teamwork!"

"Don't be such a tease, show us what you've found!"

"Sorry Mats? Can't hear you properly?"

"Show us what you've found!"

"Still not getting you clearly."

"Please Dan!"

He slowly turns the camera to face the panel wall.

"Frigging hell!"

"Awesome eh?"

The panel had lifted to show a set of wide book cases. Between them was a landing to a narrow set of stairs. There was a faint light shining within.

"I'm going downstairs."

"Daniel!"

"Yes Viera?"

"Do the bookcases move?"

"Why? They look mighty heavy."

"If the panel were to come back down for some reason might you get trapped?"

"Good call." He places the camera on the floor facing the books, "Back in a sec."

He runs like the wind to his bike, jumps on and powers it up. "You're no trial bike girl but I need you to pretend you are." He races up the steps into the entrance and does a skid swerve onto the staircase, stands on foot rests letting his thighs take some of the shock. He's in the room seconds later, thank God they made old houses with generous corridors. He parks it under the panel, grabs the camera. "Only the light above the landing looks to be working. I've only got the torch light from my phone, I don't know how well you'll see things."

[Chapter-9](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-9-2)


	9. Chapter 9

Daniel brushed what felt like endless cobwebs out of the way as he took the stairs downwards. "I'm now at what I suspect is the ground floor. A bricked off doorway and more steps down. Can you still hear me?"

"We can."

"Play some music so I can tell how the signal is." He gets half way down before it deteriorates. "Crap. If I leave the phone on ground floor for the hotspot I've no light. If I use it for light you'll have the monitor link drop when my 5G signal drops. I'll go down take pictures."

"Be careful!"

"I will."

Mats couldn't understand how she felt her stomach knot with the excitement. All in her mind most likely, memories of being in a body. "I wonder what's down there?"

"Hopefully something other than spiders. I don't like spiders. You may have noticed there are no flies or spiders in this forrest."

"I don't mind them, as long as they're not on floor 96."

The virtual floating display has a hand come into view, everything twists and turns as the monitor is picked up.

"I found a light switch. He's got old school florescent tubes down there. Come take a look."

They see a phone being placed on the top step, the camera being turned to show the way.

The basement lab was long, stretched all the way under the manor house.

"Are you seeing this?"

"Yes Dan! Basements look to be a recurring theme across the parallel worlds. Some of these machines look to be way before their time. Their styling just doesn't say old."

Daniel looks around the three accessible sides of what looked like a giant fridge. "What do you reckon, build machine?"

"Yes!"

He pulls on the large lever and there's a hiss of air as the door opens. "Awesome! I think that's exactly what it is! Can you call Leo, get him over?"

"Sure. Doing it now. Those bins hanging on the wall, are they full of parts?"

He walks over and peers inside, laughs and reaches into one. He puts a closed fist in front of the camera, "Want to _see_ what I've found?"

"Yes! Stop teasing!"

He opens his hand to reveal a synth eyeball.

"Very funny! NOT! Keep looking around."

At the far end of the basement was a tall metal cupboard, just out of range of the WiFi signal. The monitor is placed on a table just within range while he walks the few feet further in. He opens the door and screams.

"Dan! Are you okay?"

"They almost gave me a fucking heart attack!"

"They?"

"Yeah, more synths."

"Frigging hell! Whatever you do DON'T try powering them up until Leo gets there!"

"My thoughts exactly! Tell Leo to bring his laptop. You wanted Carly to know about David Elster's work, get her to bring Leo over on her bike."

"Good idea."

"Get her to phone me when they've got to site."

"Will do."

Daniel spent the time doing a good look around after returning upstairs to plug the phone into the bike to charge."To think we might have sent bulldozers in to flatten the building, this stuff could have been ruined." He lifts the lid on a machine and gingerly runs a fingernail over the surface of the content. "Metal powder? This must be a sintering machine. When were they invented?"

"2012 maybe? Although a lot of technology exists in universities before it goes mainstream, so he could have got one from there. Any manufacturer labels?"

A full check is done. "No, not a single label. Not even a basic model number."

"Likely to be uni built then. They did a smart job on it."

"I think Leo should visit the three men in their care homes. Use his helmet contraption on them, pull whatever memory is intact, see if it gives us any clues." He steps to a microscope and takes a look. "Wow! So that's how it's done. Not sure if this will work, give me some up, down, left, right feedback." The monitor is placed up against the microscope eyepiece.

"Left a bit. STOP! Up.. STOP! Is that a hair?"

"That's what it looks like. An artificial hair on a tiny chip. These must be the sensors that go under the skin."

"Mia doesn't have hairy fingertips."

"So maybe the hair is clipped in places, not allowed to come to the surface? There's loads of notebooks scattered around the place. What do you reckon, we relocate out here for a bit or bring everything to MEH?"

"Could your father get you a large lorry and machines to help lift things out of the basement?"

"Sure. We'd need to take down some walls upstairs and dig up a section of floor."

"You'd have to operate the machines with him. I trust your Dad, some of the people that work for him are a bit.."

"Shady?"

"Yeah. Reds and ambers all over the place."

"Sadly you'll not get perfect greens wanting to work in construction. Apart from Dad. We're going to need to hire that specialist crane again to get the build machine in."

"Don't you think the goods lift will take it?"

"I suppose so, and it does only have to get to 22." The heavy goods lift only went to floor 30.

"Exactly."

Daniel strolled along a set of benches, stopped at one with a picture of David Elster, a young wife and son Leo. David's desk. In the middle of his space was a leather bound book. The cover is carefully lifted and a few pages turned. "This could be worth it's weight in gold."

"What is it Daniel?"

"Potentially our version of history.txt. David Elster's last diary is my guess."

He turns through pages and pages of notes, monitor held between his teeth.

"Daniel, I see a worrying pattern forming."

He takes the monitor from his mouth, "I've spotted it too, his handwriting is degenerating becoming a scribble." He turns to the last page. "What the fuck is that supposed to say?"

"Pass. Viera says bring it home, we'll scan all the pages and map his handwriting through time, hopefully we'll be able to decipher it."

"Good idea, you ladies love your data. Any idea how far away Carly is now?"

"From her GPS about ten minutes."

"Okay, I'm heading up for some fresh air. The air down here is stale and funky."

[Chapter-10](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-10-2)


	10. Chapter 10

Daniel sat on the steps and searched online for anything on David Elster. There was very little on his research. Stories told of how he was on the brink of something great, how the team were winning awards for robotic design and neural net simulation, then after a newspaper article late 1990s nothing. He looks up at the sound of gravel being moved and waves to Carly.

Leo looked ashen.

"Not been on a bike before?"

"Hi Daniel. With one of our field agents James Owen a few years back. His petrol bike didn't go as fast as Carly's. That was insane. What have you found?"

"Sit down for a moment and get some colour back in your cheeks."

Daniel watches their head of security. She always looked cute in her MEH Ltd uniform. Her personal biker's leathers were even better. When she took her crash helmet off and shook her hair out he pictured Niska doing the same. Hot. He was falling for the blonde synth big time. Maybe this is what Sister Synth looked like? "Come sit down a moment, both of you."

Carly sits and smiles. "It's a lovely location. Cold but beautiful."

"It belonged to Leo's father David. Are you familiar with David Elster's work?"

She shakes her head.

"Want to give her a summary Leo or shall I?"

Leo shrugs, "I don't mind. Dad was an inventor. My mother became ill, He made a robot to help look after me when I was a little boy. Then made three more. Only we called them synthetics, not robots, as Dad made them to look, feel and sound human."

Carly looks at Daniel, "Is that possible?"

"Yes."

She does a shiver, "Sounds freaky. What do they look like?"

"Mia, Niska, Fred and Max."

Her face drops, "Huh? You're saying Max isn't human?"

"As good as. In all the right ways. Just in a man made body made in a lab not grown in the womb, metal and plastic not flesh and bone. Inside his head he has all the good thoughts of a human."

Daniel knew the look on her face. "He's sweet isn't he?"

Carly nods and wipes a tear, does a long sigh, "Oh well. I was thinking of asking him out."

"You still can. He'd like that."

The look on her face changes multiple times. Eventually she looks straight at Leo, "Did he build more than four?"

"No."

Daniel rubs his hand over his mouth, licks his lips. "Did you ever visit the basement Leo?"

"Basement where? The pyramid?"

"No, here."

Leo gives him a long hard stare, eventually speaks. "You've found a basement?"

"We have. Thanks to some image processing from the ladies."

"How do you get to it?"

"There's stairs behind the wooden panel on the first floor."

Leo frowns, a look of total confusion on his face. "We looked for doors in that panelling, there isn't one, it's totally solid."

"Yes, I know. The _whole thing_ is a door. It slides up." He rests a hand on Leo's shoulder as he goes to get up. "Be ready for a shock. He made seven."

"What!"

Leo stands and races up the steps. Daniel holds Carly's hand and helps her up. "LEO! WAIT FOR US!"

The two have to run fast to catch Leo up. Daniel's parkour training with the security team paid off, they caught him at the top of the stairs turning to get down the corridor.

"Hold up!" Daniel grabs Leo by the jacket. "You'll see soon enough, don't race down there, you could break your neck falling down the stairs."

Leo wriggles getting free of Daniel's grip. "My father's lab was upstairs. He told me that was all there was. He lied to me." His face was full of anger. "And now you're telling me I may have three more siblings?" He pushes Daniel out of the way.

Daniel grabs him again and spins him around, pins him against the wall, "Hold on! Carly, keep Leo up here a moment. Use force if you need to."

Leo's anger grows, "THIS WAS MY HOME!"

"Which for whatever reason you abandoned. You'll see. I just want you to see some things in the right order. I'll shout when you can come down. And walk don't run. Nothing's going to vanish if you go slow and safe. Understood?"

Leo tries to push back. MI5 and MI6 he might have been, but he wasn't a field agent, didn't have the moves or strength. Daniel had both. He gave up and relaxed. "Go on then."

Daniel got to the basement and closed the doors on the three synths and got to the bottom of the steps. "COME ON DOWN! SLOWLY!"

Leo still took the steps two at a time dragging hands along the dirty walls for stability. Carly followed with some fast footwork taking each step in turn.

Leo gawped in amazement when he got to the bottom and turned to see the lab. "Fuck! This was under my feet all those years. This must be where he built Mia and the others. Not on campus as he said he had."

Daniel walks over to the diary. "I found this."

Leo joins him and flicks through the pages, gets to the last. After a moment he starts crying.

"You can read it?"

Leo nods and wipes tears.

"What does it say?"

Leo tries to read it and finds it too painful, has to stop. "Sorry, you'll need to give me a moment." He sniffs and wipes his face on his sleeve. He sits with head in hands for what feels like ages.

Carly slowly ambles around looking at all the books, diagrams and tools scattered around the benches. "I think three people worked down here at one point." She motions with her hands, "The books and papers are in a rough arc on these two desks. And this book is exactly the same as that one." She picks the closest one up and points to another.

"Good detective work Carly. Anything else your eye can see that we can't?"

"I think they were all men."

"Based on what?"

"I've never met a woman with such messy desks. Plenty men."

"Anything else?"

"Not yet."

Leo sniffs again. "It's a final note. To me. As Dad got worse he started talking more via notes, it helped him get the words together in his head." He held the book up and read it out loud.

Dear Leo. I'm sorry failed you Beatrice. I'm sorry I never told you how much loved you. Should you find this place one day do not touch Edwin, he wanted build world full synth slaves. Do not copy, curing fumes might toxic. Giving up, too far gone to carry on. Hopefully see y one day.

He lowers the book. "I think the last bit was supposed to say see you. I can't hear any ventilation fans."

Carly looks around, "I can't see any ventilation ducts either. Could the fumes have done them in?"

Leo nods, "Possibly caused the brain issues they all suffer from. They're beyond any help, the skull cap can't lock onto their thoughts."

"What do the previous pages say?"

Leo turns back a page and reads, repeats the operation over and over. "The skull cap we used to save Mats, that had been left upstairs with a note for me. From the handwriting he must have written the note well in advance or had one of the others write it for him." more pages are turned. "He'd proved consciousness could be transferred into a synthetic according to this note." Leo's face contorted with the anguish he was feeling. He flicks back to the last scribbled note. "What did he mean not touch Edwin?"

Carly had found diaries under the piles of papers and books, flicked to their last entries. "This one says David and George don't want something. So this must be Edwin's. Last entry almost six months prior to your fathers. Which makes this one George's. Last entry just over nine months before David's."

Daniel steps to Leo and gently holds him by the shoulders, "Feeling strong enough for another shock?"

"Not really."

"Oh. Come upstairs then for a bit for some fresh air. I'm going to call my father, see if we can get a large lorry and crane to get this stuff out."

[Chapter-11](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-11-2)


	11. Chapter 11

Daniel's father pulls up in a large high sided lorry a couple of hours later. "Nice place! Who's is it?"

Leo looks up, "It was my family home."

"Not now?"

"No, it's too big, too many ghosts."

"We get that a lot, people want modern houses they can wire up and heat efficiently. Dozer will be here soon with the low loader. What exactly did you want to do with the crane son?"

"Cut some of the floor out and use it to lift heavy things out of the basement."

"How'd they get in there in the first place?"

"Beats me Dad."

"Can I take a look?"

"Sure."

Frank Candlin admires the woodwork as they get to the secret staircase. "Nice work! I bet that dates back a bit."

"Yeah Dad, done by another Frank as it happens."

"Really? It might be worth a bob or too. Worth carefully taking out in one bit and showing to a dealer. We could get the big grinder and chop a section of wall out, take it out backwards."

Leo looks at the panel, "I'll do you a deal, you get salvage rights over any woodwork, drive the lorry to the pyramid and let us unload it, you can pick it up in the morning."

"Deal. Got a load of lights?"

Daniel looks at his bike. "Two bike headlights enough?"

"If you have them facing each other from a distance maybe."

Viera uses the link, "Dan, Dozer gets a green if we look at only the last three years."

Frank smiles, "Good lad! His Mrs is keeping him honest. Strange looking communications badge your wearing there son. Can you get Scotty to beam you up?"

"Haha Dad, hilarious. Not. Stick to the day job."

Frank gets down to the basement and ignores everything but the ceiling, repeatedly bumps into things not looking where he was going. "Kid, do you remember seeing a new floor being put down in the entrance hall? .. Kid?"

Leo realises the question was directed at him. "Sorry, Dad had all the broken tiles dug up and replaced. Why?"

Frank points up. "See the line? That's the edge, from the marks there was some temporary wood to hold things in place while concrete set. Were you away?"

"Just for a weekend with Uncle George and Auntie Mary."

"Just Saturday and Sunday?"

"I think so. I was very young. It must have been. I only remember one night with them."

"Okay. They must have used accelerants to make it set faster. Dozer's got a small container with power tools, we'll get that out in no time."

Daniel gets underneath the spot his father had pointed out. "Why would Dozer carry power tools?"

"You should see some of the dogs dinners of sites we're expected to stand the crane base on. He's had to chop the bottom of part dismantled walls out many a time. Having a rep for steam in, job done, steam out we don't want to wait on someone else if we can help it."

"Cool."

"You better clear as much as possible away using the stairs. It's going to get dusty in here."

Daniel goes to the metal cupboard at the far end and pulls up the handle, turns the small key and pockets it. He turns to see Leo looking straight at him. "Something for later."

Dozer cut four holes through the floor with a kango hammer. He was a monster of a man, his biceps as big as Leo's head. The crane was powered, walked on tracks up the stairs and rocked wildly as it got level near the entrance. Dozer had linked just the base and top section. He whips the heavy control cable to get it out of the way and pushes another button. The crane extended and smashed its end into a lath and plaster stud wall. "This is a demo job isn't it boss?"

"Yes Dozer. Partial. We might get to do the rest of the building if we're good. And when we're done here we've got a large antique to get out."

"Nice, we like antiquities."

Dozer got heavy chains, U shaped links that had bolts through the ends. "Boss do the bolts?"

"Yes. Listen for my shouting this time okay?"

"Sure boss."

Frank ran to the stairs, through the building and down into the basement. Carly was waving a hand in front of her face. "I did say it would get dusty. It's going to get far worse in a moment."

"Dad, can you get him to only cut part of the way down? Keep the dust up there? With the chains in the way we've got to climb out of a downstairs window and it's slowing us down. And all those steps are beginning to hurt our legs. He can do the last few inches when we're clear."

"Got any dust sheets kid? Or old curtains?"

"No."

"Nothing in the loft?"

Leo frowned at Danny. "Is there anything up there?"

"Good question, I only went down not up. Dad, got any torches in the cab?"

[Chapter-12](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-12-2)


	12. Chapter 12

Leo carefully got his weight onto the boards that partially covered the loft floor. They took his weight okay. He shuffled forwards and looked through the stack of boxes. There was all sorts of discarded junk. He grabs something and suddenly sits down, looks rather happy.

"What did you find?"

Leo looks up at Daniel, "My favourite toy from when we moved in. I always wondered where it went."

"What is it?"

"A model Spitfire."

"Nice. Will it fit in your jacket?"

Leo tries a pocket, "Yes, it fits."

"Okay, first keepsake, see what else there is."

They found old curtains, old bank statements, invoices for parts, loads of Lego. There was a shape hidden under a tarpaulin at the end of the boards. Leo lifts the tarp and gasps. "The prototype!"

"What? I can't see."

Leo carefully steps off the boards onto ceiling joists to let Daniel past.

"Holy crap! Odin. The one eye'd test model."

"Maybe this one has both eyes working?"

"It should go in a museum."

Leo nods, "No way would Mats want this as a first body."

"Too frigging right I wouldn't!"

"You're still there? You've been quiet."

"I didn't have anything to add."

The men take the tarpaulin and long curtains and head back down to the basement. Carly had been busy getting everything into piles on tables that could be easily covered. Between the four of them they hold the curtains out and cover everything up.

"Okay Dad, he can finish the job."

Ten minutes and a hell of a lot of noise later a long block of concrete drops a few feet letting daylight in. The chains held.

Frank grins. "Steam in.. job started. We can dispose of that can't we?"

"Sure Dad. I don't suppose he has a ladder with him?"

"He does, but I've got a better idea. Finished with the loft?"

"Almost."

"Get whatever you want from there, Dozer and I will rip the top stairs out, put them in here so you can get out without having to use three flights of steps."

"Will you be able to turn them into the basement when you bring them down?"

"Down? I was thinking up. Punch a hole through the roof and take them out that way."

Before they did that they used the crane to lift the build machine out, having to tip it on its back when off the floor. The sintering machine came out next. The crane walking on tracks had been just what they needed. Steam in, steam out. With the two heavy machines out and the loft cleared it was time to get the stairs moved.

Dozer was master to his machine. He had the extra crane sections inserted in no time and over to the side of the building. Heavy hammers got the nails holding the sides of the staircase to the walls smashed through in minutes, a big circular saw chopped it free top and bottom ready for lifting out through the roof. The whole relocation was done in just under half an hour. Just as well as the light was fading very fast.

Dozer cracked his neck. "What next boss?"

"I think we can come back for the wooden panel."

"Sure boss?"

"I'd rather you weren't using the big cutting tools in the dark."

"Okay boss. 7AM?"

"That would be fine."

"I'm packing up then, my Mrs is doing a stew tonight."

"Thanks for your help Dozer, see you in the morning."

Daniel hands him a folded set of fifty pound notes with a slip of paper, "Get Mrs Dozer a bunch of flowers on the way home."

Dozer looks at the wad, "Cheers Danny."

Dozer sounded thick but he wasn't. Maybe not the highest of IQ but full of life skills. He'd chopped the bottom of the staircase sides down so that the bottom rung sat against the floor. He'd drilled holes, got some lengths of rebar he kept in his tool container and smashed them through into the concrete below, pinning the stairs in place. Between Frank, Daniel, Carly and Leo they got the bulk of the basement emptied in under an hour.

One thing remained.

"Dad, can you wait in the cab please?"

"If I must?"

"Top secret stuff. Leo's x-MI5."

"Oh. Right. I could tell you but I'd have to shoot you sort of stuff. I'll get out of your way."

Daniel quickly recovered his phone and took the other two to the metal cupboard. "Carly, that creepy looking thing you couldn't take your eyes off is called Odin. He's the prototype for the synthetics Leo's father was working on, George and Edwin too."

"He's a robot?"

Leo turns to see. "He's more than that. Way more. He doesn't look it but he's smart."

Daniel gets right up against the cupboard. "As I said earlier David, Edwin and George made seven not four." He pulls the key from his pocket. "Actually give me a sec."

He races back to the empty benches and grabs two office chairs. "You both might want to be sitting down for this."

Leo and Carly do as asked.

The key is inserted and slowly turned, the lever pulled down to unlock the doors. 

"I don't think any of the three people working in here were expert biologists. Not ones that could create life. They were technology men, motors and circuits, computer boards and code. So how do you get eternal life if you're not a biologist? You make a mechanical body." He pulls the doors open.

"Dad!"

Carly is shocked to see three men standing in the cupboard. "Bloody hell! They made themselves bodies? Who's who?"

Mats shouts "Frigging hell!"

Leo isn't entirely with it, talks slowly, pointing, "George, Edwin, Dad."

Daniel steps close and points. "Edwin Hobb?"

"Yeah."

Daniel gets the blue tarp and covers him with it. "One donation to synthetic medical research gladly accepted."

"You're going to dismantle him?"

"You've seen the note, heard the history. Once an evil shit always a shit. Well the truly evil ones."

He reaches for the chins of George and David.

"WAIT!"

"Why?"

"They might need a charge top-up first."

"Okay. You can charge them back on 22."

[Chapter-13](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-13-2)


	13. Chapter 13

The team get back to the pyramid late, Mats had put the party back to 20:00.

Niska looks furious when David and George are wheeled onto the floor. "I thought I'd escaped him!"

"What?"

"He kept giving me looks."

"Who?"

"Your father!"

"What sort of looks?"

"Nasty ones."

Leo looks at the ceiling. "Shit! Why does there always have to be a storm cloud whenever I get a silver lining?"

Mia places a hand on Niska's shoulder. "Did he ever touch you in ways he shouldn't have?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Leo gets to a workstation, grabs a charge cable and transformer. "I never expected to say this, but I'll take any such thoughts out of his fact store for you Nis."

"Thanks. Have you ever done something like that to us?"

"No. And I wouldn't."

"Then why your own father?"

"I want him back. In part to help with Mats. But _not_ at the cost of losing a sister."

"Aww Leo." Niska pulls a face of love and affection she'd not done before for her human brother. A second later it turns to one of horror. "My face is broken! I'm leaking fluid!"

"Oh my God! Niska! You're crying!"

Fred, Max and Mia are around her in a heartbeat, "How is this possible?"

"History.txt."

"Mats?"

"Daniel, the synths in Mattie's world had a number of modifications. What if the David of this world had already done them?"

"Or designed them in from the start?"

Mia turns to Daniel, "Why would I need a food bag?"

"Maybe you don't have it? He added it later?"

Fred nods, "Quite possible. Put him on charge, we can ask in the morning. Assuming this isn't just an empty shell."

They all turn at the sound of the lift bing in the distance. Carly struts onto the floor in high heals, gold hot pants and very fluid white top.

Max grins, "I think I'm in love."

Daniel chuckles, "That's lucky. She fancies you too."

"She does?"

"She does. Well she did before she found out that you're a synth. And that walk she's doing hardly says negative thoughts now does it?"

Max physically couldn't get his smile to go any wider. "We should leave Segway by the lift, but getting here on one wouldn't look as fluid and attractive."

Leo chuckles, "Daniel fancies Niska, Max fancies Carly. What goes on in the pyramid stays in the pyramid?"

Mia smiles at her adopted son, "And you have growing feelings for Mats."

"I.."

"You cannot lie to us Leo, we see all your vital signs."

There's a tinny "Do you?"

"Um.."

"After I kneed you in the groin?"

"The pain was bad but the pleasure was better. I've never been kissed like that before."

The lights dimmed by one percent as the exacore suddenly drew more power. The synths noticed.

Fred looks up at a light fitting, turns to see him, "That's more accurately said as never been kissed at all. Did you just blush Mats?"

"It felt like it."

Carly stuck out a hip, "Are we talking all night here or having a party?"

Mia does a little shuffle over, "A party please. I've never danced before."

"How come?"

"Nobody has asked me to. And we try to keep our moves limited to prevent excessive battery drain."

"I hope you're all fully charged then?"

Fred smiles, "We are."

A tinny voice shouts, "Wait a moment. Leo, you let Mia go out and about and never once got her dancing?"

"Er, a mistake with hindsight."

Daniel looks down at the monitor pinned to his shirt, "Shall we then? Windows blacked out?"

"Yes and yes."

~~~

Mia and Max are dancing to Mats emulation of the Just Dance game after getting some movement training from Carly. Ariana Grande's, One Last Time is playing.

Daniel turns to see Niska, her lips are moving ever so slightly to the words: All I really care is you wake up in my arms. One last time. I need to be the one who takes you home.

Daniel takes off one of his two heavy gold chains and puts it around Niska's neck. "A gift."

She moves fast and grabs his face with both hands, has her first ever kiss. She'd watched countless movies trying to understand how it was done. His face is checked for a reaction, it's shock. A moment later a smile grows.

"Wow."

Niska hadn't used the mouth open tongue offensive tactics of Mats on Leo, had gone for a much more delicate approach that she suspected her double would use with Astrid. It had the desired effect, Daniel looked like he wanted more. Or was that him just being kind? She didn't know.

"What's wrong Nis? You look like a rabbit caught in headlights. What are you afraid of?"

"Spending my whole life alone. I have my sister and brothers.."

"I know exactly what you mean. Want to try that again?"

Daniel's father had only given him the one tip for dealing with the female of the species as he put it: Son, as the song says they're more deadly than the male, treat them kind and gentle, only play rough when asked to. He hadn't thought of it as good advice at the time, now the words couldn't have been more prophetic. Here he was kissing a sentient being made by man. So gorgeous but with the potential to be more deadly than any other woman on the planet. She could probably outrun him, definitely outthink him. And the one in Mattie's world had been nicknamed Ninja Nis. He was playing with fire. He knew it. His head said he should back away. His heart refused. She felt warm. Not quite the hot a temperature he'd expected, but not cold and lifeless either. She was an okay kisser too, would probably learn super fast. He slowly places a hand on the back of her neck and gently caresses her neck and head. She places a hand on the back of his torso and pulls him in tight pressing his chest against hers. Not too tight, tight none the less.

"Are you two going to dance or dance?"

Daniel wished for a moment he could do the head-bump thing, tell Carly to give them a moment. The song had ended, it was their turn. It was quite possible that everyone was watching. Correction. He could guarantee they were. It was far too quiet. He gently lowers his hand and moves backwards a little. "Fancy a dance?"

"I don't know how to."

"Carly will help."

[Chapter-14](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-14-2)


	14. Chapter 14

The following morning Daniel wakes to feel a body up against his, a leg over one of his and an arm resting on his chest. He could feel a cable running over his belly and down his left hip. She'd connected as he asked. He didn't want to wake to find her out of charge.

They'd taken it slow, just kissed and caressed, enjoyed each others company. He'd let her set the pace. His mother's advice had been different: You want to be friends first, lovers second.

His phone buzzed in an on off on off pattern that said Dad. Dozer and his father were probably back at the estate.

Niska stretched and slid up the bed, kissed him on the lips. "Morning Daniel. What's your normal routine?"

"Shower, grab a bite, check all the systems I'm responsible for. Which is quite a few. I ride around on one of the Segway transporters as there's a lot of ground to cover. Want to join me?"

"Can it carry two?"

"I'm sure it can."

Niska was amazed at the scale and range of things she was being shown. "This place is like a small country folded into a compact building."

"You're not wrong there. We do bring in a few things from outside but if we needed to we could run for months on end with nothing brought in. The only thing we're dependant on from outside is the mains supplies and Internet links to allow clients to connect."

"If there was a power cut how long could you survive?"

"The exacore would scale right back, save data to disk. We'd run off generators for maybe a month."

"A whole month? Where would you get the fuel from?"

"The tanks just below the underground carpark."

As they roll towards one of the cinemas Niska turns to watch a young family. "What happens if a child of a family becomes nasty?"

"Then the family are asked to leave."

"They have to go?"

"We have zero tolerance for such things. But it's not happened yet. Everyone appreciates the good thing they've got going in here."

"How come nobody outside of here knows about it? It sounded like not even Leo and MI5 knew."

"Can you imagine people queueing at the entrances begging to get in? People carrying all those nasty germs that Mats feared?"

"You have a point." She spots a young man tucking into breakfast outside a cafe. "What do you do for food?"

"It's all grown on site. We're a mostly self contained operation as I said."

Niska looks confused. "When we were coming back down from 96 you mentioned salmon.."

"We have a salmon farm on floor 1. Would you like to see it? It's huge."

"I would, thank you."

Daniel holds around her waist and points with his free hand. "We have our own bank and post office too. All road names became corridor names so everyone kept the same address."

"Is there anything you wish you had but don't?"

"A beach. But we're working on that. It's just at the design stages at the moment."

"How realistic will it be?"

"It will be two floors high so the water can have an entire floor depth at the deepest end. We'll have big wave machines to get the water moving. I've got a design on the drawing board, I wouldn't mind your thoughts on it."

"Mine?"

"It would be nice to get fresh eyes on it, an honest opinion."

"Can we see it now?"

"Three more things on my top priority list, the others can wait. Left at the next path please Nis."

They turn to see a crowd on one of the lawns. Through a small gap Niska glimpses a statue. "Why are they looking at a statue of Mats as an angel, with a birth date and no death date?"

"Planting seeds."

"That she may never die?"

"Or is about to."

"Was that one of the three?"

"Yes."

[Chapter-15](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-15-2)


	15. Chapter 15

Niska sat in Daniels big office chair and span around like a child. "I like your office. I was expecting it to be.."

"A mess?"

"Yes."

"A place for everything and everything in it's place. That way when I need something it's where I expect it to be. I could do a load of jobs blind folded."

"Prove it."

"I don't have a blind fold."

Niska gets up and locks the door, turns the privacy control making the narrow window to its side opaque. "Close your eyes."

Daniel does so and hears a zip being undone. A moment later her skirt is over his head and being pulled into place. "Okay. It looks like I have no choice but to prove myself."

He puts hands out and slowly steps backwards to the door, feels for the frame and gets his bearings. "Okay. We use small impeller pumps in some units. I'll get one out and strip it down, change the impeller blades and put it back together."

Niska watches him get it out, find tools and strip it down as if he was an officer in an army. Every part taken off is carefully laid out on the desk. He picks up a small hex key, undoes the blade, slides it off and fits the new one. Bit by bit he puts it all back together. His hand reaches out for the last nut. It wasn't where he expected it to be. He brings his hands to the edge of the desk and feels for the sides of the desk protector. He reaches out for the nut again with two fingers. He places his hand on the spot palm down. "Very funny. Mats knees Leo in the nuts and you've pinched one of mine. Or rather the pumps."

"Do you see everything?"

"In my head, yes."

"You can't see through my skirt?"

"No. Nothing."

Niska moves fast as if to strike him in the face, stops millimetres from his nose. He didn't flinch. She twists into position and pulls up the skirt, gives him a kiss. "Impressive. You have the precision of Fred and yet you're a human."

"You say that like you think you're not."

"I'm not. I'm a synth."

"Say it in full."

Niska frowns. "Synthetic."

"Fuller."

"I don't understand?"

"Synthetic what?"

"Synthetic human."

"Aha! I'm an analogue human. You're a digital human. Humans The Next Generation. Boldly going etcetera etcetera. Ignore the first word, we're both human."

His comment gets a smile and another kiss. "I like you Daniel Candlin."

"And I like you Niska Elster. I think you should have your skirt back."

"I could do a little dance for you?"

"Don't feel that you have to do that sort of thing for me Nis. Don't change into something you're not. Just be yourself, I love you just as you are."

"Do you?"

"I do."

"Why me?"

"Why not you?"

Niska couldn't think of any reason, took her skirt back and stepped into it, "Show me your beach design, I've only seen them in videos." She pulls up her skirt and does up the zip.

Daniel gets a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse out of a draw and logs in.

"You have a proper password instead?"

"I have both. I have full Admin rights."

Niska rests her weight on both elbows, jaw carefully resting on the palms of her hands. The edge of the desk was at the top of her thighs, her belly flat on the desk. He'd wheeled his chair sideways so she could get central to the three curved screens. The screens filled almost all of her field of vision. "The view is beautiful Daniel."

He looked at her bent over the desk and felt a little ashamed at the feelings stirring inside, "It is indeed."

"How is the wave machine going to work?"

He knew how to spot tests and had ignored it. He got his thoughts back onto work. "A giant offset cylinder. It will be perfectly balanced weight wise. A large motor with a big heavy flywheel will keep it turning."

"Will that create waves?"

"If the diameter and frequency is correct our simulations say so." His phone buzzes. "Mats and Leo want to power up George and David."

"How can the floor support all the weight?"

"It may look it from the outside but not all floors are the same height. Some are incredibly thick to support super heavy weight loads. Like the park, farms, this design. We have a few unoccupied ones for future use. And on many floors we have triangulation supports up to the edges. They're carefully hidden behind walls."

"What type of floor is 22 then?"

"A lucky one. It's floor is supported by columns down to the super floor below, the ceiling is suspended by the one above. So the only thing preventing it from being one giant open space is the services spaces towards the middle."

"Lifts, stairs and restrooms?"

"That's it."

"Can we go see the others?"

[Chapter-16](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-16-2)


	16. Chapter 16

Niska looks at Leo's laptop. "What did you remove then?"

"Nothing. I want you to hear his reasons."

Niska's happy expression faded. "And if his reason isn't acceptable?"

"Then I deal with it."

"Do it then."

They powered up George and David simultaneously.

George looks around, "David? Where are we?"

David looks at his old team mate, "Not in the basement that's for sure. Mia, Fred, Max. Niska. Who are.. Leo? Is that you?"

"Hello father."

"We're dead! We're finally dead!"

"Dead?"

"The wills haven't been read?"

"No. The three of you are alive. Or were the last time I checked. Lights on nobody home. You don't even know your own name now."

"Oh dear. It wasn't supposed to go that way."

"Why?"

"We're alive in two places. Where's Edwin?"

"Still shut down as your note and other information we have says he might be a problem if powered up."

George frowns at David, "You finally got the message? It took you long enough!

"Yes, yes, he slipped up, said what was on his mind. How are we here if the wills haven't been read?"

"That would be my fault. I'm Daniel. With some help from Mats and Viera I worked out your secret access into the basement."

Niska looks impatient. "They can be given all the details later. David, I want to know why you kept looking at me in the way you did. Like you wanted to hurt me or.."

George had been shaking his head, "You _idiot_. I told you there was a better way but no, you listened to Hobb again, didn't you!"

Niska glares at him. "A better way to do what?"

"Prove beyond all doubt that you're human."

"What proof were you seeking?"

"Tears from an involuntary emotional response. David was trying to make you cry."

Daniel claps his hands, "Bravo! She did, she _is_ human. Can we talk about Mats please? She's the priority."

David looks at the only woman in the group he didn't know. "Are you Mats?"

Carly shakes her head, "Not me. I'm Carly, head of security."

"I'm Mats."

David looks at Daniel, "Did that come from the thing on your chest?"

"It did sir. Mats needs a new body. Leo saved her mind with the device you invented."

"So where is she now?"

"I'm in the exacore computer this building houses."

George whistles, "That's quite some processing power! What year is it?"

"2031."

"Our old bodies have survived that long? Are we being kept alive with machines?"

"No Dad, you work okay, can eat, move around, do all the simple stuff, you just can't put higher level thoughts together."

George looks strangely excited, "The fumes! My money's still on the fumes."

David nods slowly, "So you said, I'm inclined to agree."

Leo gets to his father's side, crouches down. "Daniel found your diary. The handwriting went from something quite stylish to the scribbling of a child."

"Yes. The synth skin is quite safe once cured. But we think the fumes given off while it's curing are toxic. By the time we worked out we should have installed a vent it was too late. The fumes are odourless."

A tinny voice asks a question. "So could synth manufacturing be killing people in other worlds?"

"If you made them in high volume and didn't process the fumes safely, yes. What do you mean other worlds though?"

"Nasty. There's millions of synths in Mattie's world. I died after falling over. My head had been bombarded with noise from a transmission from one world to another. It wasn't meant for me, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, blacked out."

Max nods, "Leo got her mind into the computer, she could remember enough of the transmission for us to decode the first of the files being sent. A terse history of their world."

"Take the credit Max, that was your work."

"Thank you Mats. It explained how you'd given Leo synth technology to bring him back."

"Leo? Why Leo? Back from where?"

"In their world Mia hadn't reached the car in time. He died with Beatrice. In their world you'd made a synth in her likeness, she accidentally shot George."

George looked at the baby monitor pinned to Daniel's chest and realised it had a tiny lens on the front. "Thankfully not going down that path was something you took my advice on David. You'd have had no backup to restore her from. Can you see us Mats?"

"I can. Want to see me? Digital me."

"Yes please."

~~~

George runs fingers through his hair and grins. "Now _that_ is what I call a decent sized monitor! What's the resolution?"

Daniel gets to his side. "Only 16K lines."

" _Only_?"

"If you get close you can clearly see the individual pixels. Get back enough to see most of the display and the eye can't resolve them any more."

"Wonderful! How technology has marched on. What do you use it for?"

The forrest scene turns from a still picture to a live animation, Mats strolls into view, arm in arm with Viera. "Whatever we'd like. Business graphs and stats, or something more relaxing like our virtual forrest."

David steps back and sits on Mats desk, "You're rendering all that in real time?"

"Yes. This is child's play when you've got three hundred thousand billion billion floating point operations a second at your fingertips."

George grins, "Do you know we managed almost thirty petaflops in the synth heads? Only in very short bursts, they'd melt if they ran at that speed full time. And they'd flatten their battery in minutes. I suppose I should be saying _we_ now I've joined their ranks."

Mats grins, "You should. So our exacore being able to run flat out for months on end is something that would impress you?"

"It does. Who's the beautiful lady with you?"

"Sorry, forgive my bad manners, this is my friend Viera."

"Hello George, David."

Mats steps closer, virtually. "In Mattie's world your Mary died of cancer, you were assigned an NHS care synth called Vera in your old age, v e r a. You hated her. Ours Viera is spelt v i e r a. She's lovely. In Mattie's world you were shot, put on ice, brought back as a synth, designed your own new wife. A bit weird but each to their own. Were you married in this world?"

"Yes. Mary's hopefully still alive. Although the shock of seeing me like this may be too much for her. She has a weak heart."

"Then Leo should meet her, copy her consciousness."

George shakes his head, "She didn't agree with where David was trying to take things. And to be honest neither did I until we all realised something major was going wrong with our heads. The synth bodies looked more and more appealing as the weeks past."

David rests a hand on George's shoulder. "Maybe Leo should visit her. Give her the option, tell her that George and George are waiting outside in the car to see her, should she want to see you. Denying her that choice isn't something you could live with George. If working with you for so many years taught me anything it's that people have the right to choose. We did."

"Yet we're denying Edwin the right to come back? Hypocritical doesn't begin to.."

"I know. But he's said he wants an army of slaves. No world should allow such people to continue freely."

"So we imprison him and power him up?"

"That would make him more mad than he already is. What if he escaped?"

"So we give him the death sentence for crimes not yet committed?"

Mats waves, "Guys, technically he's not dead yet. His old body is still alive. You're just denying him the right to come back. And it's not really a right. It's a bonus. A privilege to be earned not given away without care."

"I expect you're right."

"And if you've not powered him up, the synth him, taking him apart is hardly killing him."

"Why would you take him apart?"

"To see how he's put together."

"But the two of us know that."

"So what do we do with him?"

David stands. "A very good question that needs some thought. How did you die Viera?"

"I've never died."

"So how did you get in there?"

"I _am_ here."

"Evidently.."

Mats laughs, "You misunderstand the answer. Viera _is_ the operating system of the exacore. She started as a program, it made more sense to let her run things, she's smarter than a standard OS."

George does a short chuckle, "I'm not one to swear normally but holy shit! You have all that processing power at your disposal and you can think flat out for _months_?"

"I can."

Mats pulls a face, "Deep Thought is also a bit too close to Deep Throat. When he's not got his head in fiction my brother's a bit sex mad. He said he gave the name in memory of Douglas but I'm not so sure these days."

George gets close to the screen then backs up until the pixels merge. "Is this exactly how you'd want to look Mats?"

"It is. I was a couple of inches shorter in the real world, Viera's helped tweak my model."

"We could convert it into a build model relatively easily. The only delay would be designing a new core."

"Why would you need to do that?"

"Moore's law would mean there are better chips available now."

"Moore's law was officially declared dead in 2019 with 8 nanometer. But that's for traditional CPU. Quantum computing is gaining traction."

"Are you using it yet?"

"No, it's a bit too bleeding edge at the moment for me. And I still can't get my head around quantum mechanics fully. I like my bits to be assertive, be a one or zero, not an indecisive qubit that can be both at the same time."

George nods and sways, "It's a long time since I joined any talks on the subject. Imagine a set of swings. Children are swinging on them, moving back and forth at different frequencies. Two groups of children are standing around observing. Being fully forward is gang one and fully back gang zero, Being at the bottom of the swing both one and zero, because children would rather be in both gangs than none. When asked to come off the swings they collapse from their quantum state into one of the gangs, zero or one."

Mats shakes her head microscopically, "Was that supposed to help?"

"In quantum computing, gates influence the way the qubits collapse down from one of four quantum superposition states into a classical binary zero or one. The gates are like parents standing close by with trays of fizzy drinks."

Mats laughs, "Now you've really done my head in! I'll do some reading. They did offer Quantum Mechanics at Uni, I wasn't wired for it. Ha! Maybe I will be now."

David watches her moving around. If he hadn't been told this was a simulation, instead a live video feed from another country, he'd have accepted it without a second thought. "How do you feel about upgrades?"

"Good. The alternative me called Mattie had a load. You should listen to the file we got. Viera, fancy reading it out for them? History.txt might help them decide which way to go."

[Chapter-17](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-17-2)


	17. Chapter 17

David looks at Niska and holds his gaze, resists all urges to break eye contact and look away. "The David in the other world, possibly worlds, shares a lot of the same character traits as me, that's clear as day. It's also clear that the Mattie version of Mats is similar in many ways, different in others. The same is true of Leo, Mia, Fred, Niska and Max. I hope you can believe me Niska when I say I never once touched you inappropriately nor did I want to. As George explained earlier, I only wanted to trigger your crying without specifically asking you to cry. I needed proof that the last three pages of consciousness code were working properly. Sadly I never got it."

"I did."

David turns to see his son. "Under what conditions?"

"Conditions? For God's sake Dad! Won't that lab mentality ever go? I said I'd rather hack your fact store and remove any problem data than lose my sister."

"You'd have wiped facts?"

"Sure, why not? My original father doesn't even know his own name, I could erase half of what's in your head and you'd still be more of a father than he is. Hell, _anything_ more than zero would be better."

"That's true." He looks back at Niska, "I'll understand if you still hate me Nis. I meant you no real harm. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you just say."

Niska takes a step closer to Daniel, "I need nothing from you. I have a sensitive and thoughtful man who gives me all I need."

George claps his hands together, "Good! You can learn all the deep shit with a man who actually gives a shit. Interpersonal skills were never high on David's list of qualities."

David throws him a sarcastic look, "Thank you _very_ much George!"

"You're quite welcome David. My opinion is that we should build Mats 2.0 with the things we know. All tried and tested. Then we have the luxury of time to research the next version with newer chips. Speaking of time, I'd like to go out with Leo, have him talk to Mary as suggested. If I can get brain dead me out of the care home. Would you all mind?"

Mats adds a graphical display to part of the screen, the outline drawing of a vehicle. "Carley, can you take one of the seven seater MPV, help George out? Let Max run shotgun with you."

"Of course Mats. Is there anything specific you'd like Max to do?"

"Just smile and be charming."

Carley does a slight pucker and wink. She'd never found an obvious camera in the display, suspected Daniel had built many tiny ones in between pixels allowing it to work like a compound lens in a fly. She'd kept the thought to herself, not wanting the boss to freak out at the thought of a giant bug eye watching her. Only now Mats was the giant bug looking into the room. "Fancy a road trip Max?"

"I do."

"Come on then."

David watched as the lift doors closed, an emotional Leo looking back. He turned back to the screen. "Ventilation. Before we plug anything in build machine wise we need good ventilation. Or a way to process the fumes and neutralise them."

Viera removed the image of the MPV and fills a lot of the screen with a periodic table. "Can we have the formula for the skin?"

"Yes. Had you asked the original me even in my prime I'd have referred you to George. Now I'm a synth I find I can recall it perfectly. Can I type the chemical notation for you?"

"I'm unlocking the desktop on Mats desk for you. Please do."

David types in the formula, hits return.

"There are no carcinogenic compounds, no reactions that would cause a health risk to humans."

"That was fast. So not fumes."

"What do you use to make the moulds?"

David types again.

"There's your problem. That's were the fumes are coming from. I'm surprised you're former body isn't totally dead."

"So George was right, it is fumes, just not from the materials we expected."

"Correct. There are newer equivalents we can use that have the same physical and thermal properties and none of the side effects."

"Excellent. Can we order some?"

"I already have. One thousand litres."

"How much!"

"It's cheaper in bulk and has a very long shelf life if kept air tight."

"Very well then. When will it be with us?"

"In approximately two hours thirty nine minutes. It's just left the warehouse."

"It has? We used to wait days just for a confirmation that they'd received our order, let alone the product. Sometimes we used to wait months."

Mats smiles. "The world has changed. The frigging USA and China have a stranglehold on a lot of the world's manufacturing. The bits we can do ourselves, we really have our shit together."

"We'd seen it with China. But the USA? What on earth happened?"

"A nasty man got into power, started changing the legal system making it impossible to get his party out. They say they're for the people, they're really just milking the people for all the money they can get."

"And nobody's taken him out? Done a JFK?"

"Nobody can get close enough. And even if they could there'd be a vice president ready to take his place. And another to take his."

"And the people just put up with it?"

"They do now. After a year and a half of constant marching and protesting people started giving up. They were worn out. Nothing they did made the slightest bit of difference. No policy changes, no negotiations. If anything it made things worse."

"And I thought our government was bad at times. They sound positively angelic in comparison. If the new materials will be here that soon we can go get connecting everything up. We'll need three phase mains."

Daniel turns away from the window, squeezed Niska's hand. "We can help with that. Every floor has a feed in the risers, we just need to run cables out to where ever you want to place the machine."

"Shall we head down there then?"

[Chapter-18](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-18-2)


	18. Chapter 18

David was sat at one of the PC workstations on floor 22 getting used to the differences in the operating system. It was all coming together very quickly thanks to some efficient training from Mats and Viera. His old workstation had been powered up just long enough to copy his original source code to a burnable CD. Mats had recompiled it for this version of Windows. It loaded, displayed and manipulated models very fast. David dropped copies of the Elster synth designs into a network share, Viera examined them and seconds later dropped a fifth and sixth in. Mats and her own. Seconds! The things he could have done with that much computing power back then when he made Mia. It would have saved so much time. Niska was quickly picking up engineer skills, taking in everything Daniel did to lift carpet and the floor tiles below, advance the armoured cable to the machine. Since his confession she'd been a little less cold to him. She was positively warm towards Daniel. The man seamed gentle and kind. Exceptionally fit but not hard and arrogant like a similarly built student he'd had many years ago. Maybe Daniel ate well and exercised properly rather than abuse steroids.

"Hello David."

He looked up, he'd not heard the voice in many years. "Mary!"

"How are you?"

"Me? I'm fine. How are you?"

"Over the shock of seeing George looking years younger."

"He's convinced you of doing the same?"

Mary shakes her head. "No. One lifetime is enough for me. I came to say hello, for old time's sake. And see that Edwin never powers up."

David can't hide his shock. "What did George say?"

"George? Nothing. It was me that told George about Edwin all those years ago."

'How so?"

"Those pub lunches in the summer, you and George would zone out, stop listening to his going on and on about making money from it. I listened. To every single word. The man, is a monster."

"Where's George?"

"With Carly and Leo getting Edwin to a room. Max is being my guide. He's such a sweetheart, hasn't changed a bit."

"You remember meeting him?"

"Of course. I didn't realise he was a.. what do you call them?"

"Synths."

"A synth back then. But that smile of his. I think he'll make Carly very happy."

"They told you.."

"No dear. It's just the Miss Marple in me being observant." She looks at the screen. "Who's the attractive lady you've got on screen? Do they have to be naked?"

"That's Mats. We're about to make her a body."

"Carly's boss?"

"The one and the same."

"Why is she having a body made?"

"She's dead. Or rather her body is. She had an accident."

"Father?"

David looks past Mary towards Niska, "Yes Dear?"

"Daniel and I have connected the power to both machines, they're running."

"Wonderful. Thank you both. Excuse me one moment please Mary." He stands and walks to the sintering machine, checks the powder is good. A code is tapped into the control panel. "Okay, one Mats 2.0 skeleton coming up." He returns to the PC and clicks Print. "Shall we go deal with Edwin?"

Max took them down to the medical centre. One inner examination room had a security officer stood guarding the door.

"Hello Max."

"Hello Fatima. Are Leo and George still in the room?"

"They are. So is Carly." She smiles sweetly at him.

Max opens the door and ushers Mary in.

"Hi Mary."

"Hello again."

Carly is holding a scalpel. "Would you like to do it all Mary, or just the final part?"

Mary looks a little confused. "I'd expected George to be the one with the knife?"

George smiles at his wife, "Carly told me she did six months at medical school training to be a doctor, before she decided to follow her true passion. Dance."

Carly pulls a crooked smile, "Sods law my dance partner went to hold me above his head, lost his grip and sent me crashing to the floor. I ended up back in the same hospital to get my leg pinned. So that was being a doctor or dancer over."

Mary puts up a hand to decline the scalpel, "I'm sorry to hear that. You make a start. Couldn't you be a dancer now your leg is better?"

"I'm too old now to do it professionally. With the type of dancing I do they want teens or early twenties."

"How ageist."

"Hmm."

George points, "Carly, if you make cuts here, here, here and here, we'll let the fluid drain out. Whatever you do _not_ touch him under the chin."

"Why?"

"That's where his power switch is."

"Just a single switch?"

"Yes."

"That's a silly place to put it isn't it?"

"Hindsight, my dear, is such a wonderful thing."

Carly does the lower cuts first, then the upper ones and watches the blue fluid start to drain as air gets in. "Why blue?"

"Why not? By the way the stuff stains skin like crazy."

"Thanks for the warning." She drops the scalpel and finds the latex gloves. "Sod's law they're blue too. Being petite, I've had enough of being called a Smurf."

Max goes to question what a Smurf was and sees a look from George that told him not to.

Carly uses the scalpel to make second cuts turning each slit into an x. "That was harder than I expected, it was like I was slicing through a mesh."

"Similar. The first cuts happened to run in the same direction as the sensor wires in the skin, the second one ran across them, you've cut hundreds of tiny wires."

"Wires for what?"

"The senses; touch, temperature, pressure."

"So Max really could feel my breath last.." her voice trails off.

Max smiles, holds one arm up, the other bent and rocks from side to side, "Carly was teaching me how to slow dance, her breath tickled my neck."

It went over George's head. Mary smiled knowingly at the synth. Either Max was trying to defend her honour or Carly had stood on a box.

With the fluid draining faster from the Hobb copy Carly waves the blade over the chest, "What next?"

"A classic Y post-mortem cut if you could please. If we were just going to pull the auxiliary processing core we'd have him face down. I want to take the power circuit out first."

"Auxiliary?"

"We couldn't fit everything in the head. There's solid state storage behind the shoulder blades."

While Carly helps get the power circuits out Mary steps around the table and talks quietly to Max. "Can you really be tickled?"

"Yes. Another first for the Elsters. Niska discovered she could cry. I discovered I could be tickled."

"How sweet. It's a shame there's not a try before you buy plan. The equivalent of a road test."

George looks up, "Sure there is. I've effectively used it."

"What do you mean dear?"

"We back you up, put you under with a general anaesthetic, boot you up and you use if for a few days. If everything checks out okay you write off the old body. If you don't like it we shut down synth you and bring your old body around."

"And if I don't like it you've spent a fortune on a body no one will use."

"Don't worry about the expense, let me worry about that."

"I'm still not saying yes, just not a definite no."

"That's fine."

There's a knock at the door, it opens ever so slightly. "Max, there's a man calling himself Fred asking if he can come in."

"Thanks Fatima, he can come in. Don't look into the room, it's not a pretty sight."

"Thanks, I won't."

Fred steps into the room, arms full. He closes the door behind him with a foot. "Sorry I'm late, some packages were waiting for me at the post office. I've got some lovely surgeon's instruments, how can I be of assistance?"

[Chapter-19](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-19-2)


	19. Chapter 19

The waiter in the restaurant on floor 80 welcomed the couple to their window table.

"Good evening Madame, Monsieur, I've not seen you here before. Friends of Miss Hawkins?"

George could read his suspicion under the fake smile, "Yes, you could say that. Mats knows Leo Elster quite well, Leo's father David had been a colleague of mine for years, we're all back together helping Mats with something."

"How is she?"

"Her spirits are high, all things considered. Her body.. that's a bit of a mess at the moment but she's got the best in the land working on it."

"I'm glad to hear it sir. The statue that's appeared at the edge of the park has a lot of people worried."

"Statue?"

"The angel sir. Floor four."

"We'll have a stroll after dinner and take a look, thank you."

"You're welcome. Today's speciality is duck confit. Can I get you both something to drink?"

"A bottle of your best Champagne please."

Mary looks down the menu and goes to comment.

"Mary, stop. Apart from care home costs I've not spent a single penny on anything for years. If I can't splash a little cash on my wife.."

"That's hardly little George."

George looks up at the waiter, "Your best please."

He watches the waiter go, "Mary, Mats has asked that we all hang around for a bit."

"What's a bit?"

"A year minimum."

"Why so long?"

"To make sure we're on hand if needed, carry on with upgrade work. Mary she's funding our research. We get accommodation too, all food as well."

"That's nice for you both."

George shakes his head slightly, leans forward and whispers, "Not team synth we, _us_ we. The Elster family and Millicans."

"We get to stay in her little utopia?"

"Yes. Which would you rather? This place or your tiny room in the assisted living care home?"

"That's a no brainer even George 1.0 could answer. Here, obviously."

The waiter returns with an ice bucket, bottle and two glasses. "Have Madame and Monsieur decided on their starter?"

"Sorry, we've been too busy talking, can we have a few minutes please?"

The waiter starts pouring the Champagne, "Certainly, the kitchen doesn't close for orders for another hour, you have plenty time."

They skipped starters and went for the duck, followed it with Tarte Tatin. Mary enjoyed talking about all the adventures they'd had together. Her husband being able to recall things was one thing. The speed at which he did it was refreshing. She'd spent far too many years talking at her husband, not with.

Mary patted her lips, "Whatever happened to the Odin prototype?"

"We fixed his second eye, dropped the n and called him Odi. We got his processing core working fine, just hadn't gotten around to giving him hips and legs. Or skin. Leo found him in the attic under a tarp."

"The poor thing. Why didn't you fix him?"

George sat and pondered for a moment, at what point does a basic robot, a thing, become a poor thing. And what set it apart from him? "The old brains were going, we'd already made version two with Mia and Fred, version three with Niska and four with Max, five for Edwin, David and myself."

"What's the difference?"

"Two had the skin, improved core, new solid state storage, three the food processor, four the improved battery capacity and more sensitive touch sensors."

"And five."

"Improvements to all of those."

"Will Mia be able to get an upgrade."

George leans forward, "Keep this under your hat but Mats want to pay for version six bodies for everyone."

"Why?"

"So we're all on an equal footing."

"Is she going to be a six?"

"Not yet, she'll be a five first. We'll all collectively work on the six design. Shall we go and check out the park?" He waves for the bill.

Mary turns the signed bill around. "2 Meridian Place?"

"Floor 88. One of the suites. Let's take a stroll around the park."

[Chapter-20](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-20-2)


	20. Chapter 20

George and Mary find Carly and Max out for a stroll. She'd changed out of uniform into a pretty strap dress.

Max smiles, "How was dinner?"

Mary returns the smile, "Lovely thanks. The view was spectacular too. We came down to see the angel statue."

Carly hangs on Max's arm, "That's where we've just come from. We were trying to work out who the artist is. The initials on the very bottom are DZR."

George runs the fingers of his free hand through his long thick hair, "An unusual letter for a middle name."

"I hear Mats has given you number two. We're neighbours practically, I'm in number twelve. Sorry Max, _we're_ in number twelve."

"Maybe we'll bump into you then."

"At weekends maybe, unless you're up early week days. I start my day early, parkour with Daniel at 0730, breakfast, then get ready for an 0845 start. I like to be in just before my team."

Mary looks around, "Do you do it here?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll see you at 0730. As a spectator of course."

Carly gives them a cute little wave as she and Max walk on.

"What a sweet young girl."

"She's hardly a girl Mary, she's in her thirties."

"She doesn't look it. Not by a long way. You've not secretly made her a synth and not told her?" It was only half a joke.

"Lord no, we don't do stealth upgrades."

"Is that how you see it, an upgrade?"

"Yes. Because it is. I'm still George Millican. I think and feel the same things, have the same desire."

"Which is?"

"To be with my wife."

Mary links arms. "Let's find this statue."

They resume their slow stroll. Mary's bunions were giving her grief. "When will the build machine be done?"

"Four twenty six tomorrow afternoon. Viera helped find some tuning improvements for the sensor wire placement stage. I'll need to put the skeleton together in fifty minutes, wire up the cores and get them into the machine, make sure the parts hoppers are full."

"Can we carry on with Hobb in the morning?"

"Sure. Max's joke about Fred putting together a Hynes Repair Manual for Synths isn't such a bad idea. We'd not thought of servicing enough."

Mary felt her pocket. Inside was a small thing, not exactly a circuit board, a power junction of sorts made mostly of metal, wire and resin. It had threaded terminals for bolting down heavy duty power cables and some big things George had called polyfuses. Without it Edwin could have his chin pressed to the end of eternity, he wasn't going to be powering up. "Fred looked quite surprised to have to cut through something like muscle."

"A possible divergence from Mattie's world. Unless they call them actuators. Maybe they do, the name is still valid. Their text file didn't go into enough detail."

"How do they work?"

"Like a human muscle. Only instead of tendons we have steel and carbon fibre. Instead of muscle cells, micro actuators. Remember the closing mechanism we had fitted to the conservatory door to stop it slamming in the wind?"

"Yes?"

"Imagine that being a powered piston of sorts, able to open and close the door, not have the door move it. Shrink it down to a tiny size and string a lot of them together with carbon fibre, you have a muscle."

Mary feels George's bicep. "Which machine does them?"

"The build machine. It's the first stage after I load the skeleton. Muscle, pre-skin, sensors and hair, skin."

"Sensors and hair?"

"Some have tiny hairs, some very long hairs bonded for heads and.. other hair."

"You mean pubic hair?"

"Yes dear."

She takes a step ahead, turns and stops in front of him, runs fingers through his hair and gives him a kiss. "How on earth did you cope with Mia and Niska?"

"With difficulty."

"Why do you have to build the skeleton first?"

"It's printed in parts on the sintering machine, needs putting together."

"And you couldn't build a simple robot to do that for you?"

George puffs up his cheeks and blows, "I guess. It would allow me to get on with other things. I suppose I didn't want to engineer myself out of the process."

They walk on for a few minutes and find the statue.

Mary ignores the pain and hurries ahead. "That's amazing!" She runs a hand over the white marble. "George, come take a look up close."

"How odd. I've never seen circular marks on a statue like that before, it looks as if the artist used a lump of rebar not a masonry chisel. He's got Mats likeness down perfectly. I wonder when it was made?"

"I has to be very recently."

They turn to see who was talking.

"Hello Fatima. Why do you say that?"

She runs her hand over the statues head. "Stone dust. The rain machine comes on at 2AM every four days. It's not washed the statue down yet." She goes to walk on, "By the way, if you're into Gene Kelly the rain is comfortably warm."

Mary holds her hands together up against her chest, "How utterly wonderful! When will it rain next?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Is there somewhere I can get George an umbrella?"

"There'll be a couple waiting by the post office, first come first served. Rain stops at 4AM prompt. Have a good evening, I better get on with my rounds."

"Thanks Fatima."

[Chapter-21](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-21-2)


	21. Chapter 21

Mary had the best night's sleep she'd had in many a year. "Are you awake George?"

"Good morning, did you sleep well?"

"Very. I don't recall waking from a dream in a long while."

"What did you dream about?"

"Our son Odi."

George rolls onto his side. "Our son?"

"We always longed for the children we couldn't have. I guess in my subconscious I wished you'd be Geppetto, get our Pinocchio finished."

"And you'd be the Blue Fairy or Jiminy Cricket?"

"I couldn't turn him into a real boy so his guide, yes."

George gives her a peck on the lips. "Edwin wasn't interested in having any more children, David neither. I suppose I'd always hoped to return to him one day. I'll ask him if he minds me making it a side project."

"Thank you dear."

"Fancy a late lunch?"

"Why, what time is it?"

"It's just gone half one."

"George! Why'd you let me sleep so long!"

"Why? We didn't get to bed until 04:32. I don't want any tired people wielding super sharp scalpels."

They kept lunch simple, a fully loaded ploughman's baguette shared between them and a coffee each.

"How does your coffee taste?"

"Of coffee. With milk and sugar. Your's?"

Mary smiled faintly and sipped hers. "Coffee. Black with."

"I should check on the build machine before we resume our work on.." George didn't want to call it Hobb. It looked like him, but as it had never powered up with his consciousness, only diagnostics code, it wasn't Hobb. "Subject A."

"Subject H. H for Horrible."

"H it is then."

"It was lovely watching you work last night. I've seen you tinkering at home, but never working on something like that. You put a lot if care and attention into it."

"She is our guardian angel, deserves the best I can do. If it wasn't for her this version of me would still be stood in the cupboard in the basement with David."

"Will Fred and Carly need that fancy screwdriver you used?"

"Good call. Yes, it will help a lot."

"How does it work?"

"There's a stack of planetary gears in the handle. It gives the thing very high torque."

"Where did you get it?"

"I made it with the sintering machine. It printed while Fred's skeleton printed. I hurt my fingers so much putting Mia together with hex keys I thought I'd create something better."

"Let's go get it then. I'll grab it while you check the machine."

Fatima unlocked the door for Carly. "Why are you using one of the medical rooms not Daniel's workshop if it's not an autopsy?"

"There's been a lot of messy fluid.."

"Blood?"

"No, not blood, you'd have smelt it if it was blood wouldn't you?"

"I guess so."

"And this room has way better light than the workshop. It's twice as bright as any other room we have."

"Can I see what you're working on?"

"Mats would freak out if you did. So no peeping. We've got a camera in there so Viera would know."

The autopsy like dismantling of Subject H went slowly, George wanted to pass on as much knowledge as possible to Fred. Sure he could head bump a lot of facts, but having Fred experience it himself gave it a context he'd find more useful. Carly yawned.

"Are you tired Carly?"

"A little."

"Let Fred do all the cutting today then please. You can use the screwdriver to undo some of the joints."

"Fine with me, thanks."

"Did you get to bed late?"

"You didn't see us watching you singing in the rain?"

"No? Where were you?"

"Sheltering at the front of the bank."

"Krystal to carly."

Carly has both her hands deep in the Hobb synth working on a connector. "Max dear, can you unhook my radio and operate the button for me please?"

"Of course."

He holds it above the body and presses the side button.

"Can it wait Krystal? I'm a bit tied up."

"50 shades? Who's the lucky fella?"

She goes a little flushed, "Max. Only I'm tied up with _work_."

"Oh. Only there's a man saying he's the head of MI5 and he needs to see Mats right now."

"Crap."

George takes off his gloves, "I think that's enough for synth repair school today, let's go find Leo. We need an excuse for her not seeing him today."

Leo looks at the build machine. "She's got a while to go yet."

Carly nods, "We tell him she's getting a hair cut?"

"He'd go find her. He's that arrogant."

"Having a waxing?" She points downwards.

Leo chuckles, "Yeah, I think that would stop any man."

"Oh, so you like the destination but not the journey?"

Leo blushes a little, "That's one way to put it."

"Okay, waxing it is, I'll tell him to come back tomorrow."

Leo returns to the new board designs with George and Daniel. "Where's Toby? Didn't he promise to help out?"

Daniel dragged and dropped an Intel Core i9 into the circuit designer. "He did. I told him to focus on his deal, with you three around we've got more than enough hands to the pump."

George frowned, "You want to stick to the i386 instruction set and not recompile for ARM RISC?"

"The risk of RISC."

"What risk? If we go for the latest CPUs built for mobile with 8nm we get a lot more cores per chip with lower heat output."

"How many cores?"

"64."

"What the fuck do people want that many cores for in a mobile?"

"I'd rather hoped you could tell us, we've been on pause for a few years."

"Mats, are you watching us still?"

"Yes Dan."

"Want to take a punt on ARM RISC chips?"

"Sure, if I don't boot properly you just power up previous me."

"Okay, RISC it is. Thanks Mats."

"Thank you all. I'm looking forward to getting out of the forrest into the real world in the current model and next. I've got some balls to crush."

Daniel looked down at the monitor. It was far too easy to forget she was there via the link. "Mine for telling Toby to focus on his deal?"

Mats laughs, " _SPOILERS!_ "

Daniel holds his phone low and out of sight and types a reminder: 3D printed codpiece, two of. "What other features do we need? Bluetooth, WiFi, Wideband Radio, 100G Fibre?"

Mats giggles, "I'll have everything going thanks. Just be thoughtful where you put anything that needs a physical connection."

"We can make a hip connection that takes fibre in the middle, like the old 3.5mm audio jacks that doubled as fibre connections for HiFi."

"Cool. How many moving parts will there be, the muscles excluded?"

George looks at the monitor, "Not including anything moved by those, one. Your fluid pump."

Mary leaned forward, whispers into George's ear.

"A very good suggestion from my wife. We'll have two pumps. If anything is likely to fail from wear it's the pump."

"Awesome I'll be able to tell Toby I'm a Synth Time Lord. That will get his back up."

"Oh, yes, Doctor Who. I like that. Just don't go all Missy on us."

"You watched it George?"

"On catchup Mary, I didn't want to force you to watch something you didn't like. How do you know about her?"

"I tolerated an episode when young Leo stayed over that weekend."

"Ah, project basement. That was an insanely busy weekend for David and Edwin."

"Then more recently I watched another to see if it had got any better. Still not my cup of tea. Although I quite liked Missy. Put Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch on and _wild horses_ couldn't drag me away!"

Mats laughs, "You're a Cumberbitch are you Mary?"

"I'm proud to say this old girl is. And you?"

"Totally."

"When you're out of the build machine we can go to that lovely little coffee shop by the side of the park and exchange notes."

"Awesome."

George rolls his eyes, "You're welcome to go there now Mary, this designing must be rather boring."

"I'll admit I understand very little of it. Now. But when I .. ah yes, when I boot into my new body, I'll hopefully understand it all rather quickly."

George's eyes widened to the point his eyelids almost disappeared. "New body? You're willing to try?"

"Why not? Why should it be only the old boys that get the new toys?"

"Frigging awesome! Mia, Nis, Mary, Viera, Me. George, David, Fred, Max. We'll outnumber the men five to four. You'll need one more for a girls vs boys five a side match. It will be a good way to show everyone I'm fit and recovered."

Leo gets in front of the baby monitor. "That's a bit unmatched Mats, you can outrun us fabs. You should let Daniel and I play."

Daniel frowns at him. "Fabs?"

"Flesh and bone. From history.txt. It wasn't a clear reference, it's split across several lines."

"Oh. Works for Nis too though. Friendly and beautiful synthetic. Speaking of Nis, where is the rest of your family Leo?"

"With me on 96."

"Doing what Mats?"

"Dancing lessons with Carly. Learning to unlearn power conservation. So.. ARM CPU, all the interface options, hip fibre port. What else? Do all the CPU cores have to be in my head or could some be distributed to other places?"

David looked like he'd been told by Einstein that 2+2=5. Dumbstruck. "Bloody hell."

"David?"

"Do you remember being sat in the canteen at MIT when the students were talking about muscle and organ memory, how the brain isn't the only organ to store information. They had that theory that all organs assist with long term storage?"

George nodded slowly, "It's all coming back from the fact store, yes. They cited a young man who had an organ transplant and suddenly found he could play jazz music."

"That's the one. Instead of just terminating sensor wires at the spine taps why not put CPU there?"

"They'd be a bit exposed."

David grabs the mouse and draws, "Place the chip on the inside. Like this."

"To what end?"

"Shorter sensor wires. We could increase the clock rates. Distributed processing. Mats could run and have all CPU in her head processing other things."

"Such as?"

"What she's seeing or hearing. Don't take this the wrong way Mats but you could run like a headless chicken."

"No offence taken. What else?"

"Things in the history file. Eyes with a wider dynamic range."

"Zoom?"

"Okay."

"Better hearing too."

"Okay Mats, all good."

"How about the ability to blush?"

George grabs a pencil and scribbles old school. "If we took a tiny muscle actuator and set it under a sensor, a tiny disc the other side like the anchors for dermal studs Holly Alice got, the actuator could push the sensor towards the surface. If the sensor top was made red it might have the desired effect."

"Awesome! Could you prototype it, on a small patch?"

"Sure. If it works where would you want them, just the cheeks?"

"Yeah. On my face before anyone gets ideas."

"Sorry? What sort of ideas?"

"Not my arse cheeks. My bottom."

"Oh! Right!" had George thought of the idea from the start he would have been blushing. Mats had a nice shaped arse. "That's a nice lead into another conversation. Who's going to help you out of the machine and give you clothes to wear?"

"Mum's in court. Would you mind Mary?"

"If you'll return the favour when it's my turn?"

"Deal."

George holds his sketch up to the baby monitor. "Viera, could you simulate this?"

"Yes. On Mats?"

"If that's easy enough to.."

"Done. I can create a video stream if you'd like to see?"

Daniel opens VLC and copy pastes the URL Viera had dropped into a text file in his network share. "You could have made it a clickable hyperlink."

"Men! Do you want us to do _everything_ for you?"

"No! Calm down. I was just pointing out a time saving issue. It would have taken you next to no time at all. For a fab seconds. If Mats accepts the job and you help her that sort of thing could mean the difference between life and death for an agent."

"Understood. Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for."

The stream opens to show Mats, thankfully dressed. "The sensor chips are on a high speed one-wire bus. Viera's picked output pin one to drive the actuator. How much current will they draw?"

"A good point. Something to factor in."

"Each is individually addressable. How's this for chicken pox?"

"Very good. Or an allergic reaction if you need to fake a reason to get away from the dinner table. Let's see a blush then."

Mats goes a subtle red. "How's that?"

"Faint."

"Better?"

"Yes."

"And this?"

"Haha! Totally embarrassed."

"How's this?"

They all roll about with laughter as Mats controls them in groups to create patterns; the Union Jack in shades of red, the Stars and Stripes, rolling bars of red, big circles of red that fade up and down at different rates.

"Mats, the walking cheeky billboard."

"Leo!"

He turns to see Carly running up to their desks. "What's wrong? You look flustered."

"Your old boss is back again! He's on the 20th demanding an answer from Mats! He refuses to go until he gets one."

"Take him to the 96th Carly, we'll find a way to stall things." Leo turns to George. "How much longer?"

George turns his head sideways then looks at the central screen of his own workstation face on. "What's wrong with a wiggle of a mouse like old times.. one hour twenty two, twenty one minutes."

[Chapter-22](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-22-2)


	22. Chapter 22

Mats got the Elsters to stop dancing. "Carly's coming up with Eric. How do I delay him?"

Mia sits on the desk. "I could stay in the bathroom and try to impersonate you?"

"That's a great idea. Only I can do it myself. I can route audio to the speakers in there."

"What if he barges in and finds the room empty?"

"Then you block him at all costs."

Niska frowns, "You'd want us to kill him if it came to it?"

"God No! Not that cost. Just stun him, knock him out."

Mia looks out of the window. "What's your emergency fire escape route like?"

"Frigging brilliant! We fake a fire that makes the lift return to the ground just as Carly and three of you have got in. Are you all okay with extreme heights?"

"Where would you be?"

"On the ground floor waiting for the lift. I can get on the phone and talk to him through that. Viera says he'll be here in seconds."

Niska steps forward, "I'll do it. Bump instructions please." She gets to the window, "Mia, Fred, Max, get to the lift to go down with Carly please."

Niska bumped with Mats again, asked for some advice on other matters.

The lift bings and doors open.

Max beams at Carly, "There you are! Niska's waiting for Mats, Daniel needs you, he's in his office."

Carly improvises, "Problems with a chiller again I bet, he probably wants me to get people off a floor so he can service it. Eric if you could wait with Niska please."

Mia and Fred had already got in, Max gets in and gently pulls Carly towards him, "Sorry Sir, Mats is waiting for the lift."

"I'll come back down with you then."

"She wanted to talk to you in private, as soon as she's spoken to Niska."

"Oh. All right then." He sticks his hands into his pockets and takes a couple of steps backwards, turns and heads to the door into Mats office.

Doors closed Max smiles at his girlfriend, "Mats is going to set off a fire alarm."

Carly grabs the handrail at the back of the lift, "I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to.." She screams. The alarm had sounded, the lift plummeted so fast the four went light on their feet. "I _hate_ Mats fire drills!"

Eric presses the lift call button repeatedly.

A worried looking Niska joins him. "You won't get a lift up here with a fire, they'll all be heading for the ground floor."

"I have no intention of being caught in this, I'm going."

"It's a glass and steel building, what's going to burn?"

"Desks, chairs, paper, people's clothes, there's lots that can burn."

Niska pushes him sideways and taps the button herself. After doing so a few times she looks around the small lobby. "There must be a fire exit? There!" She pushes a section of wall that now had a small fire exit logo glowing green. It was a floor to ceiling door.

Eric peers into the short corridor behind it. It had signs in multiple languages and pictograms. "That looks dangerous!"

The corridor ended in open space. What looked like a cargo net joined where the walls ended.

Niska looked at a cable behind the net and all the signs. "Children to be carried by an adult. Good, none here. We have to remove shoes and run at the net. It's a vertical zipwire!"

"I'm doing no such thing! This is insanity!"

"Suit yourself, I'm going for it. If I'm reading the instructions right it looks like a second net will fall into place when I'm gone should you change your mind."

"What slows us down at the bottom?"

Niska scans all the information again, "It doesn't say." She steps carefully to the edge and looks up. "It looks like there's eight nets. There's an L shaped mechanism at the top of each, the cable feeds around it to keep it away from the passengers in the net."

"Thank you for the detail miss, it's still no."

"Can you smell burning? I can."

"Oh God!"

"Eight nets. I've got an idea. Wait here."

"No way. Where are you going?"

"To get something to test the thing."

Eric follows her into Mats office. "What are you.. oh, her chair. Good idea!"

Niska wheels it towards the fire escape. "It's a very heavy chair. Hopefully heavy enough to release the net."

"And if it's not?"

"I'll have to join it"

Eric stopped to look at the large floor to ceiling monitor that was now flashing a red warning sign and simple floor plan showing where the fire escape was. "So the floor is bigger than the space we see." He walks fast to catch her up. "Can I see the chair a moment?"

Niska lets him do so. "See, it's very heavy."

"I'll hold the door open, you wheel it fast."

Niska does so, the chair drops into the net, its weight pulls the net away and horizontal as it falls away, pulling the next net into place. "It works." Through the bottom of the new net she watches the chair race away at speed.

"I'm still not.."

"Shush!"

Eric keeps quiet. There was a faint sound of the wheels in the L shaped device turning fast. After a while the sound changes pitch.

"Good, something slows it down towards the bottom. Coming?"

"I don't think.."

"See you in another life then." Niska takes a step into space and turns, lands in the net. It doesn't go. "Maybe that's why it was important to run. Help me out would you?"

"What if I set it off, you drop and I fall before the next net gets into place?"

Niska grabs the net and does her best to get sideways a little. "Take a running jump then."

Eric walks backwards to the door, takes off his shoes and runs. He tries to turn as he leaves the corridor. There's a ripping sound as he hits the net. Thankfully the net is released and they start to drop.

Niska was upside down, feet up near where the net had closed. Eric was doing his best not to smother her. "What was that sound?"

"It feels like I've ripped the back of my trousers."

Niska could feel his shaking. Plummeting almost one hundred floors towards the ground had him scared. She had confidence in Mats, that they wouldn't have a system that didn't work. She has a good chuckle. "Sorry. I shouldn't laugh, but it's a good job you're a manager not a field agent."

"You know who I am?"

"We got a message that you were coming up for a meeting with Mats."

"Can this be our secret please? I'll pop home and change."

"Sure. When we're at the bottom you give me your jacket. I'll give you my jumper. You can tie the sleeves around your waist."

"Thank you. I'm Eric."

"I know. I'm Niska. The ground's.."

There was a change in noise as the cord fattened from bare steel to something thicker. Niska overclocked for a microsecond to reduce the blur. There was a material covering that looked like carpet, lots of short fibres sticking out. The added friction was decelerating the net. They swing horizontal and the cable is replaced with a metal bar. It slows them further then drops them into a big pit of soft foam blocks.

"We have touchdown." Niska looks up at the bar. It was on a very heavy mount that looked pivoted. The net with chair had landed further to the left. "That was fun!"

"You sound like agent material. Obviously not afraid of heights."

Niska turns her back to him and takes off her jumper. She wasn't wearing a bra. "You think so?" She bent an arm and held it behind her back.

"I do."

A moment later Niska feels the top of his jacket being hung on her fingers. "Thanks." She slips it on and does up the three buttons. "A bit loose but it will do." She turns to face him.

"That's quite a look. If you got a ladies fitted suit jacket.."

"I'll look into it. Thank you Eric." The visitors badge is unclipped and handed over. "I expect we'll need to join others at a fire assembly point before you can make your escape. Mats would want everyone accounted for."

Everyone was being routed down to the huge underground car park. Carly's team had high-vis waistcoats on, were using megaphones to give the mass of staff and occupants orders.

Eric points, "That's the lady that came up in the lift with me."

Niska pushes her way through the unorganised lines. "CARLY!"

Carly lowers her megaphone and smiles, raises it again, "EXCUSE ME! COMING THROUGH!"

Niska grins, "Mission accomplished, that net ride was a rush!"

Carly does a shiver shake, "Rather you than me. Why are you wearing his jacket?"

"He needed my jumper. Can you help him get home to change?"

"Sure. I'll drive him myself." She motions for Nis to bend and get closer, whispers, "He's not soiled his pants has he?"

"No, just split his trousers."

"Thank God. A stinky car would be horrible."

Eric joins them.

"If you follow me sir I'll get you to my car. I'll drop you home and wait while you change. With a bit of luck this will all be over by the time we're back and you can have your meeting with Mats."

"Would you mind if I hid in the back? I'd rather my driver didn't see me go or return."

"Sure."

"Thank you ladies."

[Chapter-23](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-23-2)


	23. Chapter 23

Mats' phone rings. "Hello Mats Hawkins."

"Doctor Bernard Davis."

"Hello Doctor. How are you?"

"I'm great thanks. Have you got a new phone? It doesn't have even a hint of echo."

Oops. Something to add to virtual phone calls with strangers. "I'm testing one, yes."

"Hmm. We could do with some of those. How are you?"

"Good thanks. How can I help?"

"I've been talking to colleagues who know your operation a bit more, and by that I mean your firm. One of the Med students nicknamed the MEH virus the 28 Hours Later virus. The virus dies after 27.4 hours if it has nothing to attack. We've let him round it up to 28 as he's a big Danny Boyle fan and been feeding it all manor of things to sustain it. We can't freeze it, it kills it. We were wondering if anyone runs things like Folding at Home on your exacore?"

"The protein folding simulations? Yes, they do."

"Can one of our students come over? We need to find a way to slow the thing down or we'll soon have none to pass to other patients."

"Sorry, what would that achieve? There's nobody on site that understands it, we just provide a lot of computing power. I could ask our contact at Stanford to call you? We'll provide whatever extra power they need."

"Oh. Thanks. Could you do it now? Please."

"Already looking up their number, stay by the phone."

"Many Thanks!" The line clears

"I understand a lot of it Mats."

"That may be the case Viera, but it's not our expertise. Not officially. Once you've got a body sit all the exams and get certified, you can then help all you want."

"Right.. one quick call then I need to get Mary up here."

"For what?"

"Picking some clothes out for new me."

Carly offered to stay in the car while he went inside.

"Come in, have a coffee while you wait. Please excuse any screaming from my son. He's only three, is going through a temper tantrum phase. He's got to learn the world doesn't revolve around him all the time. Only some."

"Oh. Okay."

She locks the car with the remote and follows him up the steps into the tall Victorian house. "This looks rather posh."

"It's been in the family since 1882. It's a lovely house if you don't want modern services. All the mains sockets are in totally the wrong place."

He lets her in and closes the door, "Marisa, are you home?" His son comes running and whacks him in the knee with a toy truck. "This is Harry on a good day. Harry where's Mama?"

Harry runs off towards the back of the house.

A moment later a lady appears, "Hello dear, home early? Where's your jacket?"

"A long story. You couldn't make Carly a quick coffee while I change could you? We're then heading back to the pyramid."

"Do you want one too?"

"Um, yes, why not."

Marisa takes Carly through to the kitchen. "What's it like working over there?"

"Good. Although I wish Mats floor was lower down, it's so high up it gives me butterflies. Her office is right at the top."

Marisa fills the kettle, "I'm the same. Eric took me to dinner when the Shard first opened. The food was lovely but I couldn't wait to get out and back down to the ground. Would you mind instant?"

"I'm easy. White with two please."

"I've got one of those fancy machines but ever since Leo did something with the router my Amazon button has stopped working."

"Button?"

"Have you not seen them? They're a tiny little computer. One button, no display. You push the button and it places an order. We need more coffee pods." The kettle clicks off. "White with two you said?"

"Please."

Eric steps into the kitchen, "That's better, not so breezy."

"Breezy?"

"I split my trousers."

"How?" Marisa hands him his coffee.

"A rather nerve wracking emergency fire escape."

"My button, have you seen it?"

"I'd tried setting it up again this morning, I.. blast. Harry! Where are you boy? Come through to the back room, our little sticky fingers probably has it."

Carly follows them.

Mary steps onto the 96th floor. "Hello?"

A very large image of Mats beaming face on the wall display greets her. "Come through Mary." Mary hadn't seen a lovely happy smile quite like that for years. There was a lot of teeth, good smiling with the eyes too. "Hello Mats. You look happy."

"I'm counting down the minutes. I wasn't much of a hugger since the pandemic, being in here has made me really appreciate what I was missing."

"The human touch? I can relate to that. Being able to hold George's hand again, get a squeeze back, that's magic."

"I'm going to need underwear, shoes, something different to what I normally wear in work hours."

"Different how?"

[Chapter-24](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-24-2)


	24. Chapter 24

Carly couldn't believe the mountain of toys Harry was picking through. "Wow! That's a lot of toys for one boy."

"My wife spoils him a little. Don't you Marisa?"

"A little. You do too."

"Harry, have you got Mama's button?"

Harry ignores his father and pulls a large truck out from the pile and rolls it across the floor. He leaves it by the side of his mothers chair and gets another toy.

"Harry dear, have you got my button please?"

Another truck is rolled over the floor and left by her feet. A car is pushed next, parked next to the first truck. More and more toys are put by the side of the chair.

Carly gets on her knees, reaches for the first truck and picks it up. It rattles. "I think he was trying to tell you something." She pulls open the plastic rear door and tips it over. The Amazon button falls out. "Here you are."

Marisa takes it, "Wonderfull! See, they're small and super simple to use. You just push.."

There's a massive explosion as something detonates in the kitchen. The light fitting in the ceiling gives way, comes crashing to the floor narrowly missing Carly and Harry. Walls in their room had cracked, plaster dust now filled the air. As did Harry's screaming. All of their ears were ringing from the blast.

Carly got up and picked up the light fitting, checked Harry was okay, "I'll call the police."

"No! Thanks, I want MI5's best on this not some rookie coppers."

"Okay. Your home, your call Eric."

Mats looked at the things Mary had taken off the racks. "You think that jacket would work without a blouse?"

"Niska is wearing Eric's jacket. She said he split his trousers so she gave him her jumper to tie around his waist, in return he leant her his jacket. It's not a nice fitted one like this but still looks reasonably good. It's got Daniel rather excited. And I expect this would do the same for Leo."

"Leo?"

"You're not interested in him?"

"Maybe. Just because Mattie is married to him in her world doesn't mean I should be to ours."

"True. George told me about the file. Do you think it's all true?"

"I know that the transmission helped cause my death. If it was a transmission from this world it's technology nobody has a clue about. And there are facts in there that only George and David knew. And they were in no fit state to say anything. In either body."

"Also true. I'm a Shirlock fan, I also loved Leonard Nimoy, especially as Spock. A favourite line of his was _An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution._ Let's accept it at face value for the moment then. Mattie has also been a model. Want to give it a try?" She holds up the fitted suit jacket and pencil skirt.

"I'll try it on and see if.." the phone rings. "Leo?"

"Mats, Eric's called, a bomb has gone off at his house! He's asked for James and myself."

"Shit! Go!"

"George will help with the build machine. Eric said Carly had taken him home to change. She's okay but you might want to give her some special attention."

"Frigging hell, not Carly, thanks. Tell Eric I'm accepting the job the moment he returns if it's still being offered."

"It is. Will do."

"Is Danny with you?"

"Yes."

"Ask him to assemble the security team and all my direct reports on floor twenty one."

"Okay. Got to run."

"Be careful!"

Leo hangs up.

"I'll see you down there Mary."

"Okay dear."

The air was thick with the smell of explosives. Carly rubs both ears, the high pitched ringing was still going on in her head. The family's security alarm had also gone off adding to the noise. Looking out the shattered window in the front room she sees a mess. "Holy shit!"

Eric joins her. "Oh. My. Lord!"

Marisa picks a still screaming Harry up and gets to the window. "My car!"

"Mine too." Carly wasn't going to be driving back to the pyramid. Not only had something gone off in the house but also in the street. A bomb in their family car had wiped it out and shattered windows in cars and houses for quite some distance. "I'm not seeing any bodies. We should call someone to check all the other houses."

"Agreed. I'll call the commissioner."

With some help from Viera, George got Mats loaded into her new body. They'd done a mod to make it connect a data cable at the end of the build. "Okay everyone. Off the floor please. Mary, I've got some instructions for you."

Mary followed him to the machine as the others went to the lifts.

George taps the display. "Eleven seconds left. Good. You pull the lever in this direction. You might need both hands. The door will swing out this way. Don't let it hit you, it's heavy. Press Mats under the chin like this." He demonstrates on her. "She'll power up in a setup mode, you need to give her a rub down, it helps the core make sense of the sensors."

"Really? Why?"

"It's just the way it was designed. We don't know where each sensor chip is until it reports in its ID."

"You couldn't power them all up and get their IDs before they're put in place?"

"Um.. We do it for one in a thousand, the massage helps work out the groupings."

"Three world leading genius inventors and you couldn't think of a way to check them all? George Millican. Really. It sounds to me like someone just wanted an excuse to get their grubby hands on Mia and Niska."

"It wasn't me!"

"I didn't say it was dear. Run along, Mats wants to see her teams."

"I'm going.."

Mary watched George run to the lifts. He wasn't a slow feeble old man now. His Gene Kelly routine had been wonderful. She pulls on the lever with one hand, adds a second and steps back. "As beautiful as I expected." A chin tap is done. "Such a bad idea. This needs to be the last time a synth needs a massage to work out where sensors are. Massage indeed. Men!"

Leo pulled up some distance from Eric's house and switched off the blue lights. James was outside the house, crouched down looking at what was left of Marisa's car. He hears Leo's car beep as it locks.

Leo waits for a cycle courier to pass and runs to the car. "Hello James. What a mess. No police yet?"

"Leo. They're all inside talking to Eric. They'll tape off in a moment. Someone was sending a message."

"What makes you say that?"

"See for yourself." He moves out of the way.

Leo looks down at the wreck. The bent metal told a story even an untrained eye could see if they looked properly. The blast centre was the base of the drivers seat. A burnt wire could be seen through the hole in the floor. Leo gets on his side and looks under the car. "Bastards. Could it be a fake?"

"To make us go after the wrong group? Possibly. An unmarked collection lorry will be here in ten. We'll get it back to the lab and take it to bits."

Leo gets lower to change arm positions and get up. "James, call the bomb squad!"

"What?"

"There's a second control box on the back by the exhaust box."

"Shit! Reverse yours up and block the road at the lights, I'll block the other end."

Mary looks at Mats. "I think there's an instruction missing don't you?"

Mats said nothing, she was still in the setup mode.

"If it doesn't work power off and on again, isn't that what they say?" She presses the chin, hears a power down sound. It's given another press. The power up sound plays.

Mats opens her eyes and gasps as if reaching the surface after being under water for minutes. "Frigging hell!"

"Everything okay?"

"I can _feel_ again!"

"Welcome back. If you stand there a second I'll get your clothes."

"Thanks."

Carly rubbed her ears again, the security alarm had stopped. Harry was quiet. The blasted ringing in her ears was still going strong.

Leo had run into the house. "EVERYONE STAY STILL, DON'T TOUCH A THING!"

"What's wrong?"

"It looks like there's a second bomb on the car. There could be a second one in the house. James thinks the first one was defective, didn't do the damage it was designed to do. A second one could be far worse."

"Shit! Who's got the button?"

"Button?"

"For her coffee pods. The bomb went off the moment Marisa pressed it."

"Where is it now?"

Marisa looks towards the back room, "I dropped it. It's in the back room."

"Show me please."

[Chapter-25](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-25-2)


	25. Chapter 25

Mats stood still while Mary took a photo.

"There, you look great."

Mats takes her phone back. "Not bad. I'm not sure about my hair being down though with the suit."

"If you're going for a power look how about doing a Lorraine Chase? She's.."

"An English actress and former model. Wow! Luton Airport. It's amazing what you can recall with an A2D conversion. I'd _so_ win games of Trivial Pursuit!"

"Wasn't she a bit before your time?"

"Reruns on Dave."

"Unfortunately I don't have any hairbands for you."

"I know someone who might." Mats taps away on the phone. "Hi Fatima, are you still in the habit of using two hairbands incase one snaps? Cool, I couldn't borrow one could I? Thanks, I'm on the floor above you I hope, 22. Thanks." The call is ended. "Fatima's got the longest hair of anyone on the staff. And it's thick."

"We've met. She guards the room we've got Hobb's synth body in when the door isn't locked."

"Gorgeous isn't it. She double bands her's incase one snaps, she's often carrying spares."

A moment later one of the doors opens and Fatima comes running. She comes to a halt hand out, hairbands on her palm. "Thank Vishnu you're healed. You look _amazing_!"

"Thank you Fatima. I wanted to see you for another reason too. Carly was in Eric's house when a bomb went off.." Fatima's face drops. ".. she's okay! But I'm going to be giving her some time off. I'd like to make you temporary head of security, if you'll accept the job?"

"Thank you! I'd be most happy to. Father will be so proud."

"I'm sure he will. Don't forget, it's only temporary. How do you do your hair?"

"Bend right over, pull your chin to your chest and pull it all into a tight bunch."

Seconds later Mats stands up fast, her hair whips back. "Like that?"

"Perfect!"

"Great, let's go see the others. You're welcome to join us Mary." She heads for the stairs, wobbles slightly and adjusts for her new body. "Once I've made my first announcement give me an English nod or head shake to confirm you want the job or not. You might change your mind and I'd be perfectly happy and understanding if you said no."

"Okay Mats."

They're down the stairs fast and onto the next floor.

Mats waves down the round of applause she gets from the teams. "Can we go to conference room B please?"

Inside she sits on the table at the front. "I have a number of bits of news. Some shocking. Some _very_ shocking. Everyone sit please.. thanks. I've been offered the job of head of MI5 and MI6. I'm going to accept later today."

There's gasps from many staff.

"The acting head was here to see me earlier, had to return home. Carly took him, a bomb went off at his house. _She's okay_." She looks at Fatima for a head shake or nod. Neither comes.

"Carly will be given time off and all the support she needs. I'll not be moving to their offices, they're coming here." Still Fatima looked stunned. Why wasn't she giving her answer? Ah. MI5 was new information. "So I need someone to step up to take Carly's place on a temporary basis." Fatima nods. Thank God! "And that someone is Fatima."

The others all congratulate their team mate.

"Listen up! Given what's happened in the last hour we need to step up security. We'll be installing a _lot_ more CCTV and dedicating exacore resources to watching all entrances. _Anyone_ that's not recognised gets special attention. Our mode of operation changes today. We plan for the worst and hope for the best in a way we've not done before."

"Like what Mats?"

"More AI for a start. We'll borrow an idea from.. a conversation I overheard. All cars will be fitted with a cut down AI like Viera, a ton of cameras inside and out, radio so it can warn the driver, maybe even drive itself somewhere safe after a call has gone into the bomb squad."

A hand goes up.

"Yes Krystal?"

"Will we be able to talk to our cars?"

"Yes."

"Nice!"

"We'll install sensors in all the drains and power conduits. If any of you have ideas for improving security, no matter how whacky they may be I want to hear them. One to one in my office if you think it's too zany."

Another hand goes up.

"Yes Sam?"

"Who are the people on floor 22?"

"Ah. The shocking bit. The man with the scruffy beard is Leo Elster. His father David was, is, an inventor. David and his colleague George are with us. As too are Leo's siblings Mia, Fred, Niska and Max."

Fatima looks confused. "I've met them. How many wives did he have?"

"Just the one. She's sadly dead."

"But.."

"Mary here is George's wife. When they married they were a similar age."

"But George.."

"Looks much younger now. I know."

"Has he had plastic surgery?"

Mary laughs, "You could call it that dear, yes. Very plastic."

Mats stands and does a turn, "How do I look. Twenty seven again? For a person in her mid thirties that bled to death at the hospital and is currently in a cold store at MI5 I'd say I looked rather good. Body dead only of course, my mind is here thanks to some quick thinking from Leo."

The room fell deadly silent.

Seconds passed.

"Anyone who's got a problem with me being in a synthetic body can resign right now. They'll get full pay for a year and enough to buy a house outside of a similar standard to the apartment they have now."

And hand at the back goes up.

"Yes Margaret, you want out?"

"No way. If it wasn't for the pandemic I'd have had double hip surgery by now. They're killing me. What's the new body like?"

"I've only been in it minutes, so far so good."

"Minutes? Then how.."

"I've been in the exacore with Viera. Quite an experience I can tell you."

"So you existed for a while in only a digital form?"

"My temporary body was floors and floors of exacore computer racks. And a simulation of a body Viera helped with allowed me to interact via my video wall and Skype calls."

"Will others be able to get a new one?"

"Anyone in this room and their immediate family to start with. And they don't need to have it now. We can have Leo, George or David back you up, use it only in emergencies."

Another hand goes up, "If we're okay with the idea but our partner isn't? What then?"

"We all get together and have a chat. If they're still not happy it's a choice you'll have to make. All leave together or split up."

There's a lot of whispering between staff. Mary steps closer and whispers to Mats.

"There's an idea. Thanks Mary. Let's have a fun day in the park. Games, food, drink. A day off work for everyone. Don't say a word to anyone else, not even partners. But make sure all your families attend and get to see George, David and myself, the rest of the Elsters too. Seeing that they're all human will hopefully lessen any concerns when you break the news."

Another hand goes up.

"Yes Marie?"

"How long do synth bodies last?"

"No idea. Mary? How old is Mia?"

"There's a coincidence. Twenty seven. Or is it twenty eight? Mid to late twenties."

"So a good while. And if there's a problem we build a replacement. In a nutshell you get eternal life. For free on MEH. Anyone not want that?" She looks around the room. "Jess, you look like you've got a question."

"Um.. can we all look late twenties again too? Only my husband liked my boobs when they weren't so far south and I preferred him minus the belly."

It gets hoots of laughter.

"He should join Daniel and Carly's parkour classes. But yeah, your body, your look. Just keep in mind future travel out of the UK might be an issue."

"Why?"

"Metal detectors and passport photos. Let's have a show of hands. Who's undecided? .. For? .. Against? Cool. So far reasonably good. Lets have two volunteers to arrange the fun day."

[Chapter-26](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-26-2)


	26. Chapter 26

The bomb squad had arrived, got helmets and big padded suits on everyone, slowly walked them out of the house to safety. They were now at the end of the street being checked out by a doctor.

James and Leo were a few yards away having a chat. She probably would have overheard the conversation if it wasn't for the ringing. A hand waves in front of her face. She looks back at the doctor.

"Do you still have a ringing in your ears?"

Nod.

"As bad as when it started or it is easing up?"

"Easing up. Slowly. I think. It could be wishful thinking."

"Don't play any loud music for a while, your ears took a beating."

"Okay. Can I go now?"

"I'm happy for you to go, I can't speak for them." He nods towards James and Leo.

"Okay. What about Eric?"

"You're all good to go."

Carly gets out her phone and types: Can you let Max bring another big car? As per earlier txt mine's a write off. Eric and his family will need somewhere to stay. House is a mess.

Mats responds in seconds: Will do. Offer Eric an apartment here. But his family MUST come in without anyone following you. So don't let anyone you don't know near the car.

Carly quickly types back: Can you ask Max to bring a change of clothes too please?

Two bomb disposal unit men came out of the house with a box hung at the centre of a very long pole. A third man wearing even thicker protection takes the box from them.

Leo turns to see Carly, "They've found a second one!"

They watch it being slowly loaded into the massive lorry with the one that had been taken from the car. Carly hadn't seen a lorry like it before. The usable space inside was only a few feet in diameter. The back half of the lorry was hinged, way more than just a door. It had the same black material. There were lots of concentric circles around the space the bomb was being wired into.

Seconds later the back half of the lorry was closed, Leo covered his ears and looked back at Carly. When she'd done the same he turns to see the bomb disposal man. A second later there's the sound of an explosion. The lorry trailer grew like a giant balloon then shrunk back as gas vented from the top.

Leo says something to James and the two men walk over to see her.

James reaches into his jacket pocket and throws Carley the button. "A souvenir."

She flinches a bit but still catches it.

Leo grins, "Don't worry, in itself it's harmless. A standard unit. The detonators were built specially to listen to it."

"By who?"

"That's what we need to work out. As soon as Mats gives the okay we'll clear out my lab and bring it to the pyramid."

"Could you use the basement lab at.."

"No. Frank's firm are already ripping the place apart. You don't want us at the pyramid do you."

"I do, I just don't want any of the baggage that might follow you. The stuff that goes boom sort. And neither does Mats. She's offering Eric a place at the pyramid."

James gives Leo a look, "Hell no, you wouldn't want him around. Would you?"

"No way! I'd let him have the estate but there won't be much of the house standing now having seen Frank and Dozers idea of steam in steam out."

James looks behind him at the mess of a building, back at Carly. "What are the rooms like at your place?"

"Brilliant. They're apartments not rooms."

"Would Mats let me have one? Eric can have my place."

"I'll ask. How much stuff do you need to bring?"

Mats stood at the window and gazed out at the city. "It's good to be back. Sure you don't want to scale down and try a body like mine Viera?"

"I'll wait for the one with the better links thanks."

"That could take ages."

"I'll wait. There's no rush."

The lift bings, Marie steps out.

"Hi Mats, I've got an idea for you. It's Zany in scale."

"You've got a security idea?"

"Yeah. The Old Greenwich foot tunnel. It's not been in use since you built the pyramid, what with our end being buried under the outside park. Buy the land on the other side, build a new building on top, reopen the tunnel. The MI5 agents can come and go via a building that appears to have nothing to do with us."

"Brilliant idea! If we kept a number of Segway PT down there they'd be across in minutes. It only needs to be a shell building, they can go up in no time. Viera, could you organise a land registry search, find out who owns it?"

Max pulled up on the other side of the lights and picked up the phone Fatima had given him. He had three numbers in it. Leo, Mats and Carley. All three were in his favourites. He taps.

"Hello?"

"Hello."

"Max?"

"I'm on the other side of the lights. Is everyone ready?"

"You sound different over a phone. I think they are. James has offered Eric his place, he's coming with us. Eric and his family will be coming too, but only for the meeting. James, can you tell Eric our ride is here please?"

Max both hears and lip reads the reply from James.

"Carly, don't turn around, ask Leo to look past you. There's a gentleman in blue jacket, baseball cap and sunglasses watching you. He's wearing a wig, I can see his natural hair sticking out at the back of his neck."

Max watches her talk to Leo. Leo gets his phone out and taps furiously, pockets the phone.

"You'll get a txt from Leo with the number for James, call it please. James is likely to be running, it will be easier to receive than make a call."

"Okay. I'll call you back in a bit."

Max hangs up to wait for the text message. It arrives three seconds later. He dials. And hears James running, breathing hard.

"Owen."

"It's Max, Carly asked me to call the number Leo sent me. I'm parked.."

"I know Max, Leo sent me details. Can you still see the man in the wig?"

"Yes."

"What's he doing?"

"Taking photos."

"Not much further. If you see him turn to look down the other road let me know please."

"Will do."

Max watches the man lower his camera and check the images. He raises the camera to shoot more. James appeared, walking fast. "I can see you now James."

"Is he still taking photos?"

"Yes. He's about five feet further along the road than the edge of the building. You'll see him when you turn the corner."

Max watches James slow as he gets to the corner, step further on as if to cross the road and glance sideways at the man and back.

"I see him, thanks Max."

A second later he pockets his phone and takes off his jacket, hangs it on a railing. He pulls a fold out knife from his trouser pocket and approaches the man. In a flurry of moves the strap to the camera is cut, wrestled from the man and thrown to Carly. The man makes a run for it but is quickly caught. James gets the man's disguise off and hides behind him, shouts for Carley to take a photograph of their prisoner. He's marched over to a police officer and handcuffed.

Mats called Daniel. "Hi Daniel, does your father have access to a ground penetrating radar?"

"Why?"

"We've just had a friend of a friend buy a small patch of land by the side of the Cutty Sark. We're going to build an information centre on it."

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"It's the other end of the old Greenwich foot tunnel. We want to dig up the outside park downstairs, the foot tunnel entrance was sealed with concrete. But only the small bit above the steps down. I'd like the tunnel extended into the footprint of the pyramid."

"Ah, this is so people can come and go but not be seen to enter our building?"

"Exactly."

"Cool. Nice idea. Let me give him a call."

"Thanks. Before you go, those ear plugs you ordered so you can work on a live chiller with the cover off, have you got spares?"

"Isolate Titanium by Flare Audio? Best fifty quid I've spent! Yes, why?"

"I think Carly could do with a set, Leo messaged me to say her ears are still ringing from the blast. The shock waves hit her more than the others."

"I'll go get them, I know exactly where they are."

"Can you meet her in the car park? She's on the way back with Max and the others."

"Sure."

[Chapter-27](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-27-2)


	27. Chapter 27

Eric's family, Leo, James, Carly, Max and Daniel were coming up in the lift.

"Viera, can you record everything at the highest quality possible please?"

"Of course."

"Thanks. How do I look?"

"Powerful and sexy."

Mats chuckles, "You think? It will be interesting to see Leo's reaction."

"You're falling for him?"

"I might if he'll shave that mess off his face. I like a clean face or hint of designer stubble, but not a scruffy beard."

"Does it make your face itch?"

"It might have done when I was in my old body. It just didn't feel nice when I kissed him."

"When you dropped him with that kick to.."

Bing.

Mats had the big glass doors wedged open.

"Hello everyone."

"Hi Mats!"

"Carly, you're almost shouting."

"Sorry, it's these titanium ear plugs. I don't get the usual feedback."

Harry ran to the window and put sticky fingers all over the glass. Marisa sat on the floor behind him and got as close as the sloping glass would allow. "What an amazing view!"

"Thanks. Don't worry about cleaning the glass, the whole panel is being replaced in a few days."

Eric drops a case on her desk, spins it to face her and pops the catches. "This is our portable encryption and satellite communications device. It will allow you to talk to all agents."

"How do I use it?"

"There's a retina scanner, voice print and.."

"Sir.."

"Yes Leo?"

"I'll have to modify it so it takes a long code instead of retina scan."

"Why?"

"Mats doesn't have one. Not like you or I since the hospital.. she's got bionic eyes."

"That's not the stuff of science fiction? I guess you're the man to know. Can you modify it now?"

"If you can give me fifteen minutes."

"Be my guest."

Leo takes the case and heads for the lift, asks Daniel to join him.

Eric steps to the window, "Gosh, you can see a long way today. Am I imagining things or can I see the curvature of the Earth?"

Mats joins him, "You can. It's like being in a space ship some days. I especially like the view when there's low cloud. That's really calming."

"These eye implants of your's are they low resolution?"

"No, the exact opposite."

"Full colour?"

"Yes."

"Amazing. Who invented them?"

"George Millican I think."

Half an hour later with papers all signed Mats shakes Eric's hand, "I've enjoyed meeting you and your family, I'm sorry about the way it happened. Good luck with whatever you do next."

"Like wise. Before I go I have a personal question if I may. How did you managed to get to where you are?"

"Be ruthless. Bow out fast when possible, don't linger. Delegate well. Project manage. Try and progress everything, even if it's just to get an updated status and push a little. Keep on top of things."

Eric smiles and gives her hand a final shake, "Keep on keeping on M."

"I will."

"And send my regards to King William and the PM when you see them."

Mats eyes open wide, "King William?"

"You'll be expected to meet him, the PM will be in touch with a time and date. You get to take a plus one, any idea who you'd take?"

"My mother."

Leo's the last to leave.

Mats keeps watching the case communications device while he played with his phone, 'Viera, fancy a bit of fun?'

'What sort?'

'Let's see how much attention he pays to things around him.'

'What did you have in mind?'

'Load the forrest scene, play the Verite song Somebody else and have a dance, not too loud, background music levels. Improvise with some slow Carly dance moves you've seen.'

Music starts playing, Viera mimes to the words. "So I heard you found somebody else, and at first I thought it was a lie. So I took all my things that make sounds. And the rest I can do without."

Leo didn't show any signs of listening.

"I don't want your body. But I hate to think about you with somebody else. A love gone cold. You're intertwining your soul with somebody else. I'm looking through you _while you're looking through your phone_. And leaving with somebody else."

Leo spun around and looked at Viera.

"No I don't want your body. But I hate to think about you with somebody else.. Come on, baby. This ain't the last time that I'll see your face. Come on, baby. You said you'd find someone to take my place. Oh I don't believe that you have got it in you. Cause we are just gonna keep doin' it and every time I start to believe in anything you're sayin' I'm reminded that I should be gettin' over it.."

Leo turned back to see Mats, his face was a little flushed, "Um.. are you ladies playing games?"

"Maybe."

"Are you asking me to choose between you?"

"I'm just trying to discover your true feelings. Was Mia right?"

"Yes. And no."

"How no?"

Leo turns back to the screen. Turns again to see Mats. "I'm torn between two worlds. I'm falling for you both."

"Really?"

"I find you both incredibly fascinating. And obviously attractive."

"Obviously?"

"You can't see how my temperature's risen?"

"I can, there are many reasons for a body to get warm."

"Warm? I'm baking!"

The window tinting activated, the daylight dimmed.

Leo turned to watch as the double bed slid out. "Fuck! If you think I'm getting into bed with you with Viera watching.."

"Frigging hell! Talk about jumping to fucking conclusions!"

"Why would you get a bed out now other than to fuck?"

"For you to _rest_ , chill out and _cool down_!"

"A premature fuck then. I mean the use of the word."

"Just a bit!"

[Chapter-28](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-28-2)


	28. Chapter 28

Everything filed away Mats gets up. "I'm going downstairs to see the others. Coming?"

Leo puts his phone away. "Sure."

Mats presses the lift call button and checks her suit jacket. Mary had suggested the look. Maybe she was showing a bit too much cleavage? Leo had been clearly fighting taking a good look.

One good thing about her lift was that it travelled at insane speeds if three separate systems said it was empty. One optical, one weight, the third thermal. There's a bing as the doors slide open.

"Ladies first."

"Guests first."

"If you insist."

Leo watches the doors close. "Please accept my apologies, I was trying to block such thoughts from my mind and the appearance of a bed pushed me over the edge. It was.."

"Unacceptable."

"Totally."

"The beard is unacceptable if you want to get with me."

"Sorry?"

Mats turns and gives him a light kiss on the lips. "Have a shave."

"Oh. I'll need to buy a razor."

Mats presses the 2 button on the panel twice, floor 22 vanishes from the display. She looks at Leo as she presses 0 then 4.

"You want to go to the park?"

"No, the small corner shop by the post office."

"Why?"

"I'm buying a pack of razors and foam."

"You want me to.."

"Shhh." She presses the intercom button. "Mats here, who's on duty?"

"Hi Mats, it's Krystal."

"Can you find an apartment that's on a quiet floor, one that's recently refurbished?"

"Sure. Who am I assigning it to?"

"James Owen. Can you find a second, assign it to Leo Elster."

"Leo's already been assigned.."

"I know. This will be for private MI5 meetings."

"Daniel's already drawing plans for new conference rooms on floor.."

"Jesus! Just assign the frigging rooms Krystal! Dan's not going to have those built for days, I'm MI5 head _now_."

"Oh. Yes. Sorry Mats. How's Alpha Grove, numbers one and two?"

"Got one further apart? We don't want one group hearing another's meeting."

"Numbers one and three?"

"Okay. Assign two and four to me please so others don't assign them."

"Done."

"Thanks."

"Mats?"

"Yes?"

"What's James like?"

"Why?"

"Carly's got Max, Dan's got Niska, Mary says you like Leo, .."

"I get the picture!"

Leo chuckles.

"Shit! I thought you'd be alone in the lift, sorry Mats!"

Leo steps closer to the intercom, "He's a bit of a James Bond type.."

"Which one?"

"Sean Connery.."

There's a bang.

"Krystal?"

"Hi Mats, it's Fatima. I think Krystal's ovaries just exploded. I'd rather Daniel Craig but I'm married."

Leo looks down at the floor to partially hide his grin, "You'll be joining a queue."

"Sorry, dropped my book, you're so hilarious Fats, go home. No queue in here yet is there?"

"A short one. Mia."

"Shit. Why am I never first in the bloody line.."

"Krystal?"

"Yes Leo?"

"When does your shift end?"

"In three hours."

"When you're done come up to Alpha Grove. I'll be in number one with James waiting for you."

"You will?"

"We will. And Mats."

"I will?"

"We all will."

"Why?"

"Spoilers! Got to go Krystal, we're almost at the park."

They took a leisurely stroll and talked. Mats told Leo about the extra CCTV and sensors that were going in, how Viera was already running a second instance of the face detection they ran for the Met Police. Only on MEH Ltd CCTV.

"How good is it?"

"I'm a coding genius, frigging awesome."

"How does it work?"

"Face recognition. Combined with body recognition. Both build and movement. For the Met we look for known terrorists. In here we look for unknowns."

"How accurate is it?"

"Very. Want a demo in a bit?"

"Sure.'

"What sort of razor do you like? Single blade, three, five or Philips OneBlade?"

"Triple."

"Soap or foaming gel?"

"Gel, after a good soak in a hot shower. How do you know about mens razors?"

"A brother and father?"

'Oh, right."

"Give me a sec, I'll get them."

Leo watches Mats walk to the shop entrance and turns to see the white marble statue. It was very good, almost too good. If it had turned and smiled at him he'd not have been surprised. He steps closer and looks at the fine marks on the surface. The plinth had the letters DZR. Definitely Frank's Dozer. The circular marks on the statue matched the diameter of the rebar Dozer had smashed into the basement floor to keep the stairs in place.

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND GET TO YOUR KNEES!"

Leo smiles, Mats must have asked for a demo while in the shop. He goes to turn.

"DO IT OR I'LL DROP YOU!"

Leo chuckles and plays along, raises his arms.

"I SAID GET ON YOUR KNEES! NOW!"

"I'll get grass stains on my trousers."

"THAT WILL BE THE LAST OF YOUR PROBLEMS!"

He feels a shove to the knees and drops. The grass and ground below it was soft, cushioned the blow. A hand grabs his arm and pulls it behind his back, then the other one. A cable tie is done up around his wrists.

"Is this really necessary for a demonstration?"

"What were you going to demonstrate about? You weren't going to deface the statue were you?"

"No! You've got this all wrong! Get Mats please, she's in the shop. She was telling me about the CCTV not ten minutes ago."

"Shut up! Or I'll zap you."

Leo was losing his cool, "Fuck me over and it's fuck you forever! Get Mats!"

"She can't be in the shop, it's closed."

"She went to get a razor and gel so I could have a shave."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because! Call Daniel, he can confirm who I am. Or Carly."

"Carly's off duty, Mats gave her a month off."

"Because of the bomb, I know. Max drove us all back. She'd still answer her phone wouldn't she? Your voice sounds familiar now you're not shouting. If you want to meet James in a bit under three you better free my hands."

"Shit. Leo?"

"Who did you think I was?"

"I don't know. I got an alarm in the security office, then the systems went down."

Leo feels the cable tie being cut. "Thanks. Which systems?"

"All of them. I didn't panic because Daniel often does maintenance at this time of day."

[Chapter-29](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-29-2)


	29. Chapter 29

The only things of use that were still running were the lifts and radios. All network ports in the security office were down, all computers were offline. The WiFi was up but not getting any traffic. They were running blind.

"Fatima? Still got your radio on?"

"I was just about to turn it off. What's up Krystal?"

"Where are you?"

"Getting changed for bed, early start tomorrow."

"We've got a problem."

"Can it wait, I'm falling asleep."

'Grab a coffee. And come to the office."

"Seriously?"

"Mats is missing. Carly won't answer her phone. Leo's been phoning around, Mary is missing too."

"Checked the coffee shops, restaurants and gym?"

"We've phoned everywhere that's open, nobody has seen them."

"Could they be having a walk in the park?"

"That's were I found Leo. I didn't see them. Mats had been with him seconds before then vanished."

"That's not like Mats."

"Exactly! Mats made you acting head while Carly's off. Either you come and help run this or you nominate me and I'll do it."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

Fatima was half in pyjamas half in security uniform, clutching a very strong coffee. "So you got an alert from Viera, as you went to leave the office the computers all reported their connections dropped?"

"Yes. Lots of beeps."

"Where's Daniel?"

"With James."

"Any cars missing from the pool?"

"No, Marie checked them all."

"And Mats car?"

"Cleaned and behind the shutters. Zero cars missing."

"Who's newest to site?"

"Eric and his family left earlier, James, George, the Elster family."

"And where are they all?"

"On 22. Except for Fred. He's missing too."

"Anyone with them?"

"Denise."

"Okay. We've got 96 floors, some way bigger than the others. How do we check them all?"

Leo puts down the procedures manual he'd been paging through. "Can you lock off the lifts and stair wells?"

"With keys yes."

"Then we lock everything off, work upwards a floor at a time. I assume someone's checked 96?"

"Yes, it's empty."

"Which bits?"

"What do you mean?"

"Which parts."

"The lobby, her office and bathroom."

"None of the space behind? There must be service access to reach all the machines that push out clothes rails, the bed and things."

"Good point." Fatima picks her radio off the desk, "Anyone know how to get into the service area on 96?"

"Hi Fatima, I do. I'll go check."

"Thanks Fiona."

Fatima goes to the key safe and yanks the thing hard pulling it off the wall. "Let's start at the car park and work up. Krystal, get Leo onto 22 first and have him join the others."

"Really? He's ex-MI5. If we can't trust MI5 we're all screwed, especially now Mats is the boss."

"May Vishnu protect and guide me. I'll give Leo and his family the benefit of the doubt. We have a lot of ground to cover, we need all the bodies we can get. If you could bring everyone to the carpark."

Max looked the most worried Leo had ever seen him. "Leo? What do you mean she's missing?"

"Mats, Carly, Mary and Fred."

Max gets his phone and calls, it goes to voicemail. "Carly, it's Max. Call me please, I'm worried."

George looks equally worried. "Who was with my wife last?"

Max frowned. "Mary asked me about the manual Fred was writing 12.34 hours ago."

George turns, "Manual?"

"Synth repair."

George goes ghostly white. "She wouldn't. Not Hobb. Surely not?"

Fatima gives him a head tilt, "Hobb? What is a Hobb?"

"We need to get to the medical room!"

Fatima pushed the handle down. "See, still locked."

"How many keys are there?"

"Three. We have one, the others are in safes in Daniel's office and on 96. I wonder.. Fiona , are you on 96 yet?"

"Yes. No sign of them in the service areas."

"Is the safe locked and intact?"

"Give me a sec.. God this door is narrow. Um.. .. yes. All good."

Fatima flicks through her big bunch of keys looking for the right one. "Is Viera running?"

"The screen's all black."

"Blast." The door is unlocked and opened. "What did you have in here?"

George pushes past. "No, no, NO! Leo, Hobb's gone!"

Leo gets past Fatima, "What did you have in here?"

"The tools, some have gone. The large container that was holding his fluid is empty. And of course his body has gone."

Fatima's colour drains a little. "HIS? You had a body in here?"

"It is the medical centre. A synthetic. A bad one. He could be hostile."

James shakes his head and tucks his gun back into the back of his trousers, "Nice work David. How do we stop one?"

"You could use an electromagnetic pulse. But you'd take out Mats too."

"So not an option. Traditional weapons?"

"A bullet to the head would kill the primary core."

"I'd like to get to my things then please. Anyone else fired a gun?"

Krystal nods, "Only a taser."

"Close enough. Just be very sure of who's in your sights before you pull the trigger."

George waves a hand, "Whoa, bullets are overkill, a taser to the chest would do it."

James turns his eyes to look at George, "Assuming you can get close enough and using one won't put others at risk."

The systematic sweep of floors one to forty took hours, even with zipping along open spaces on the Segways. All residents apartments were checked. Every member of the security team and Mats direct reports had been called on to help.

Fatima unclipped her radio. "Okay everyone. Lock doors to forty. Stairwell guards all come up a level please. Forty one next. Thankfully they're getting smaller and faster the higher we go." She lowers the radio. "Hindsight will undoubtedly show it would have been better to do top down. I need another coffee!"

[Chapter-30](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-30-2)


	30. Chapter 30

On the fifty seventh floor Krystal finds a patch of blue on the corridor carpet. She waves James over, points and whispers. "It looks like something was leaking there for a bit trying to get the door open."

James nods, puts an ear to the door. A moment later he signals for them to join the others further along the corridor.

James points back down the corridor. "We've found them. Room 102. I can hear Mats. She's pissed off, saying things like he won't get away with it, to let Mary, Carly and Fred go."

Max looks super angry. "I'll gladly take damage to keep them safe."

"We can't just steam in there. Leo, we need some of your toys."

For a change Leo didn't get the hump and tell James they weren't toys. "Which ones?"

"Listening devices for a start. Any way to get eyes in there?"

"A mini drone outside the window usually, this high up it might get caught in wind. And with good hearing he'd pick up on it if it was in the apartment."

"What's the ceiling like? Anyway to access the space above it?"

Fatima does a head shake. "Yes, but only from inside, sorry."

There's a call from inside. "THE DOOR'S OPEN!"

"Christ he's got some good hearing!"

James and Leo rig up some weights and thick string, pull on the door handle from a distance. It opens with the weight leaning on it. No explosions.

"You took your frigging time!" James gets to the door and sees the four prisoners Hobb had taken. "Nice of you to make an appearance!"

All four were sat on chairs, Hobb on a fifth. Mats was in the middle, had what looked like a bomb strapped to her chest. Wires of different colours ran off to the other four.

Hobb smiled. "One in four triggers the device even if they sneeze. Do you like Russian Roulette James?"

"Not particularly. How are you here?"

"Someone found Fred's manual and put me back together, filled me back up and booted me. Most kind don't you think?"

"Kind? An act of madness more like."

"Madness eh? Go to shoot me and I'll let go of this trigger switch, they'll all die. Shoot any one of them, they'll all die. If I run out of power, they'll all die. Your move James."

"I'm Leo, James is in the corridor."

"Nice try, you're James, you fit the description. For trying to trick me I aught to stand up. But then you'd all die."

"So you've got pressure switches?"

"Pressure, temperature, vibration, who knows? It could be one, two, or all three. Maybe more. There was lots to pick from in Daniel's room. Such an organised young man."

"What do I call you?"

"The full Professor Edwin Hobb is a bit too long to use continuously. Edwin will be fine."

"Edwin, what is it you want? If you wanted Mats dead you wouldn't be here talking now."

"I want the build machine. You're to get it in a lorry and park it outside the building."

"What do you want it for?"

"To build myself a new body. One that doesn't look anything like this."

"I can get David and George to make you a new one."

"And have them know how I look? Nice try. No." 

"Let Carly and Mary go and I'll get the machine taken to the carpark for loading. It will take a while, I'm told it's very heavy."

"You can have one. Take your pick."

George and David had a hurried conversation with him in the stair well of the 57th floor and he'd been given an answer. James gave Leo his room key and the code to a case. "I'll go tell Hobb. Good luck Leo."

Leo had ran with Daniel. He looked at the double cup floor tile pullers and nylon strap ropes. It had taken them a few minutes to grab the bits they needed. "Sure they'll take my weight Dan?"

"As long as you do three pumps on each of the green buttons, yes."

"I should be the one in the room doing negotiations, this is all backwards."

"If Hobb somehow knows who James is it's better for him to be visible. He won't be expecting this."

"True."

Dan taps away on his phone. "Got the TestFlight app?"

"For beta software on iTunes, sure, we use it a lot."

"Good, let me ping you a link."

"For what?"

"A point to point encrypted conference app Mats and I have been helping the developer with."

Leo looks up from his phone, "I could ping you a link for ours?"

"Sure. How does your one find out about other people to connect to?"

"Custom contact entries, MI5 server. Yours?"

"Bonjour services for local networks, a private address book for wide area networks."

Leo looks back at his, "Let's use yours then."

"Okay. One link on it's way."

Leo installs the app and taps. "Connection request sent."

"Accepted." He pulls the phone from it's protective case, turns it face down and squeezes it back in. "Right, time for Mia's wooly hat."

Leo pulls it on, slides the front down as low as it will go without covering his eyes. Daniel holds the phone to his head and binds it in place with a lot of electrical tape.

"Tight enough?"

"Yeah." Leo holds his phone up and gets a lot of microphone feedback, sees the view Daniel would be seeing. "Great! It's working."

The glass wall was covered in ropes and a lot of the other heavy duty suction lifters.

Daniel looks at the gap between the bathroom floor and glass. "With a bit of luck they'll hold for hours. If they don't it will slide down the building fast, you won't see it coming."

"Can't we get rid of it now then?"

"It's heavy, there's a risk Hobb would hear it sliding down."

"Too risky. Okay let's do this."

Hobb smiled manically, "I'm glad the arguments are finally over ladies. Get out James. Close the door. I'm not revealing how I disable things to let her go."

James backs up and gets out, pulling the door to. He turns to see Max, gets him to walk way up the corridor and whispers. "Carly's coming out. One down, two to go."

"Two?"

"Fred and Mary. We'll let Hobb blow himself up. Mats gets a new body and forgets that anything happened."

"But current Mats is the only one who knows all the details of the MI5 handover."

"Fuck. Then Leo better step up to the plate."

[Chapter-31](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-31-2)


	31. Chapter 31

With Daniel's phone taped to his forehead, Leo hoped Mats would see the Personal WiFi hotspot come into range and automatically connect to it. And notice. Getting down the glass was taking ages. He pumped one at his hip while holding the other at full stretch. After three pumps he pressed the side release button on the top one and slid down the glass. His hands and arms were burning like crazy. "I'll be joining your parkour for beginners. I'm seriously unfit."

"I did offer to go."

"As I said, I designed the rifle for James. I've done dozens of test firings in the lab."

"In a lab. Ever shot anyone for real?"

"There's always a first time for everything."

"So no. Great."

"Have you?"

"No."

"Well then."

"How far to go Leo?"

Leo leaned out a little. "Another third maybe?" He repeats the pump, release, slide, pump, release slide sequence a few more times and swore at his hands for cramping.

Daniel had called the Commissioner, told him what was going on. Any calls from the public were not to be responded to. They didn't want any helicopters flying around, be they from the police or news stations. He'd also got a mass of residents to turn on or off lights, go for free beer and pizza in the park.

When he got going again one of the valve mechanisms failed. "Shit shit shit. I can't get suction with one of the tile lifters."

"Is the button jammed in?"

"Hang on... no."

"Bollocks! Hang on. Anyone got a way we can get Leo another floor tile lifter?" They both wait for an answer. "Really? Okay. She's crazy but if she thinks it will work tell her to go for it."

"She? Do what?"

"Niska's coming up in the lift, says to keep very still."

"I'm not moving!"

"Good. BRB."

"BRB?"

"Be right back."

Daniel left the bathroom and went to the lift and waited. He paced back and forth. He should have been the one out on the glass not Leo. The bing went. He gave Niska a quick kiss as she stepped on the floor. "Sure you want to do this? It sounds very dangerous."

"I do. I can overclock and make corrections faster. How do I open the access door?"

"Allow me. What are you after?"

"Bed sheets. Three of them."

A couple of minutes later they had corners tied together. Daniel didn't look convinced. "Sure this will work? I've only just met you and really don't want to lose you."

"It better."

"How will you pass Leo the spares?"

"By hand. I'll be gripping the sheets in my right hand."

"Have you backed up just in case?"

"Do you think I'd risk this if I hadn't?"

"I don't know. Would you?"

Niska gave him a peck on the lips and smiled, got to the bathroom. She wriggled half out of the gap and supported her weight on her elbows. She beckoned him with a finger. Daniel kneeled down and got close, he's given a lingering kiss. "For my brother, yes."

Before he could do anything about it she was gone. "Leo, watch above, one beautiful but crazy sister on her way."

Niska had left the gap with the sheets all screwed up. She gives them a good shake to catch the air. With them open like a small parachute they slowed her slide just enough. The lights were way over to the left. She ups her clock speed, puts her left arm up high and kicks the glass hard with her right foot getting into a sideways roll.

Leo watched as Niska slid downwards and rolled to the right. She'd been keeping track of her position and passed him only feet away, a string with two floor lifters dropped into his open hand. He turned to see her, she now had both hands holding her home made parachutes, now she had one in each hand and one between the two. He'd seen many sides of his sister over the years, nothing like this though.

Leo had a strip of light to follow that ended at the room Hobb was holding the four hostage in. A magazine loaded with armour piercing rounds was already clipped in place. One special round was in the rifle chamber already. He'd just nicknamed it Dozer in honour of the artist of the statue. The man had some serious skills. "How much did you pay Dozer to make the angel statue?"

"Tell anyone and I _will_ shoot my first person."

"As if. How much?"

"Two grand. And it was worth every penny."

"Has he done much like that before?"

"Garden stuff, bird baths, half naked roman goddesses, that sort of thing."

"He should exhibit, he's seriously good. How many times has he met her?"

"Never. It's all from photos and video."

"Amazing." Light rain fell, the suction grips started to slide. "Shit! I'm losing grip!"

"Do a star fish! Get flat against the glass and keep pumping!"

Leo did as suggested. Air rushed in at the joint between every panel. His heart pounded. Cramp in his hands was getting way beyond painful, slowing his ability to pump fast. He laughed. The crazy sort of laugh you do when you see your life ending soon and your options are to laugh or burst into tears. "I don't suppose you know anyone that does emergency bouncy castle hire?"

"Nobody that could inflate one _that quick_. We could get a stack of mattresses.."

"I think I'd have hit the ground before you got any out the door."

[Chapter-32](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-32-2)


	32. Chapter 32

The rain had been a light shower from a lone small cloud. With the self cleaning Pilkington K glass MEH Ltd had used things had dried fast. The ten floor slide comes to a halt three floors above the last lit room.

Leo slowly let the nylon straps take his weight and gave his hands a much needed rest. "I'm not much of a religious person but Thank God that stopped!" He unzipped his jacket and stuck both hands inside under his armpits to warm up. The cold wasn't helping. "Any news from the others?"

"Yeah, Max is over the moon, Hobb's let Carly out."

"Brilliant! Has she been able to say much?"

"Hobb wants the build machine. He's been told you're getting it taken down to the car park."

"Good. I need to rest for a while. Trying to use the rifle with cramp like this I might pull the trigger by accident."

"Okay. Take as long as you need, I'll ask the team to give him regular bogus updates."

Leo pulled his hands out and wriggled his fingers. The painful cramp had gone. "Let's do this." He pulls on the straps to climb up, grabs the first of the suction grips, pulls up and reaches for the second.

"The bullet you nicknamed Dozer, what does it do?"

"It's a specialist round, designed to punch a hole through something solid. It's got a charge that will go off on impact. It leaves a clear path for the round that follows, the kill shot."

"Will anyone get hit by flying glass or the round?"

"As long as they're not within five meters of the window. If they're within four, yes, but it won't hurt. Within three, some skin damage possibly."

There's muffled talking from Daniel for a bit. "Our radio relay confirms they're in the middle of the room."

"Good." Leo crabbed sideways and down to the window of the apartment to the left, risks a sideways lean to look. "I see them. James is standing behind Hobb. I can't take the shot. We need to get him to move." He pumps the grips a few more times and slowly lets the straps take the weight. He chuckles, "I can't say doing the final assembly of a specialist assault rifle, hundreds of feet up the side of a building, ever featured in my dreams of one day becoming a field agent."

"Was that a goal you were aiming for?"

"God no. Just a fantasy. Only because James gets all the ladies, not me."

"We're ready to have someone knock on the door. Got a question we can ask?"

"I do as it happens. Get them to say there's a problem, we can only get a small heavy duty lorry, the machine will have to go in on it's back. Will Hobb be okay with it?"

"Nice!" Leo slides the shoulder butt into place and gets a loud click. He fits the scope and carefully gets his feet up and stands straight. "In a partial vacuum I trust." The barrel is carefully and slowly put against the glass. "I'm ready. Have them shout there's a problem bit first."

"Okay."

Leo could hear his heartbeat in his ears. His heart felt like it wanted to leap out of his chest.

Hobb's neck was in his cross hairs. The plan was to sever the data connection. It would allow them to rewire his head to a computer and find out what happened, how he'd come back. He held his breath and waited for James to move.

With adrenaline coursing through his body the next few seconds ran in slow motion. James turned on the spot, was still in the path. Then he took a step. The trigger was super light. Round two followed round one a fraction of a second later. Hobbs head rolled backwards. Leo opened his other eye and watched the scene unfold as if watching a slow motion dance. Mats leapt up, spun James around, lifted his jacket and took the concealed gun. She span around and emptied it, firing every shot at close range into the eyes of Hobb. "What the fuck just happened!"

"Leo? I looked away from the phone. What's gone wrong?"

"Mats just jumped up, grabbed the gun off James and nixed Hobb!"

"She Nisked him?"

"Four rounds in each eye I'm guessing."

"Shit! What about the bomb? Could she have watched Hobb and figured out how to disable it?"

"Possibly. Or Hobb was bluffing all along." Leo looked down and laughed long and hard, so much so he had to wipe away tears. "Are you fucking serious?"

"You can thank Krystal's brother for that. His godson's father owns a hire firm. One of Mats mantras. Know your network. Help everyone in it whenever asked, you may never know when you need to ask for a favour."

Leo unclipped the magazine from the rifle and zipped it into a pocket. "How many layers?"

"As long as you use your shoe heals to help slow your slide, enough."

"So go down back to glass?"

"Yeah. Keep it to heals only, you don't want them to grip so much it sends you flying head over heals."

"Okay." Leo turns and hauls himself up, gets the suction grips to hip height. "Are they ready for me?"

"Good luck. They are."

Leo rethinks the setup and carefully bends arms getting them under his armpits. "If I look silly it's only because I want these things saving my back from all the glass panel joins." He presses his thumbs into the release buttons as fast as he could.

[Chapter-33](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-33-2)


	33. Chapter 33

James took the empty gun from Mats. "Since when did you know how to use a firearm?"

"Dan's phone hotspot came into range. I connected and watched videos."

"Impressive."

The rest of the group in the corridor file in when James gives the all clear.

George looked at the dead Hobb. "What happened to him?"

"I'll tell you as soon as Leo gets here."

Mary, Fred and Mats sit in silence.

Carly joins them on a free chair and giggles, "I'm told Leo bounced quite high on the stack of inflatables, even with them only half full. I wish I'd been able to see it. Nice call Krystal."

"Thanks Carly."

Mats pulls a wonky pout and hums. "Since they're all outside, do you think he fancies bringing them in? They'd be great for the fun day in the park."

"You want to see Leo bounce again don't you?"

"I want to bounce with him."

"Is that a euphemism?"

"NO! I just want my inner child to have some long overdue fun."

Niska pulls a folded piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. "Talking of fun. Thanks for the tuck and roll tips in the lesson this morning Carly. Sliding down the pyramid was a rush. Can someone make me this on the sintering machine?"

It's handed to Mats.

"What is it?"

"A new bracket for your emergency exit wire. It would allow me to wear a harness and do something like skydiving."

"Haha. Our own Skyfall. Let me think about it."

"Thanks."

Steadily all of the security team and her direct reports appear. A rather worn out and scruffy Leo finally joins them.

Mats stands, "CALL YOURSELVES PROFESSIONALS?"

James looks taken aback, he hadn't expected a verbal attack. "Maam.."

"Thank you James. From now on you call me M."

"M.."

"Well? Do you call yourselves professionals? Because I do. That was awesome! You all passed."

Fatima looks like she's ready to fall asleep standing up. "Passed?"

"Yes. You've all passed the test. Welcome to MI5. Commander Owen, nicely done. And you Leo. You have a few options now; become a field agent, remain a quartermaster or become joint head of MI5 and MI6."

Leo flops into a chair, "Joint head?"

"With me, yes."

"Um.. thanks. I quite like designing.."

"Joint head _and_ joint quartermaster then?"

"Can I sleep on it?"

"Sure."

Mats unfolds the bit of paper Niska had given her. "David, you could CAD this bracket design up and print it for Commander Niska Elster couldn't you?"

Niska looks both confused and excited. "Commander?"

"Yes. You put your life at risk to save Leo. Who had put his at risk to save the four of us. I hadn't expected you to go to such lengths, I'm grateful that you did. You're the type of people I want around. If you'd like to fork so you can become an agent and simultaneously stay here with Daniel be my guest. With some help from Viera I'm sure we could do some sort of regular mind merge so you share the same experiences."

"Thank you! I accept!"

James stands over the dead Hobb, "If this was a test how did you get Hobb to agree?"

"I didn't. That's not Hobb. History.txt said Mia hid in sensory data when someone tried to give her a new personality. I wiped Hobb's core and reformatted his sensory circuits to make sure he was gone. Viera did a small fork and played a roll."

"Leo told me about her. You shot your AI in the face?"

"My friend, yes. It was our agreement. She wanted to experience being in a synth body, . She'll have a new one built."

"Why the grin M?"

"It's just something she said when first powering up in Hobb's body. It was her first solo attempt at humour."

"What did she say?"

"She hitched his trousers, looked down and said _Being a man. It's just a load of old bollocks really isn't it_?"

"Would you take offence if I said you're crazy M?"

"Not in the slightest."

"You're crazy."

"I know."

"I think we'll work well together M. Eric was too stuck up to admit anything like that."

"You think crazy is a flaw?"

"God no! He couldn't allow himself to think outside of the box. That was some risk you took though."

"Calculated. Carly wants to be with Max forever. She's had a backup. As have Mary and Fred. Any fatalities would have resulted in a new synth build. On the subject of builds, you carry multiple passports and fake ID on missions do you not?"

"I do."

"How do you fancy going as multiple people? One flesh and bone, several synth clones, all James Owen."

"That would improve the odds in our favour."

Leo rolls his head sideways to see Mats. "When did you start planning this?"

"Before the bomb. At first it was just going to be a test for Viera. Then when the bomb went off we realised it could be much more, a test for the whole MEH security team, so we pushed ahead fast."

"We? Who's we?"

"Fred, Mary, Carly and myself."

"My boring brother isn't so boring after all. You did a good job of putting him back together Fred. And keeping it secret."

"Thank you Leo."

Mats pulls the fake bomb from her chest and peels some sticky plastic from one of the cylinders. "Anyone fancy a ready mix JD and Coke? It will need a little ice. Everyone keep your eyes open an wits about you. Has anyone worked out who bombed Eric?"

[Chapter-34](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-34-2)


	34. Chapter 34

M dismissed her staff, told them to get some rest and not stress about shifts, Viera was back online and would keep an eye on things. She asks Leo to hang around, she needed to talk to him about the estate.

Mats looked at the assault rifle hanging from Leo's shoulder. It was clearly in three sections that had been taken apart and somehow clipped back together into a third of the normal length. Easy transportation was probably the likely reason. It was covered in scratches. "How'd you get so handy with that thing if you're not a field agent?"

"Loads of test firings in the lab."

"I meant being comfortable with a head being in the sites."

"Hitman Sniper 3 on my old iPhone 9."

"A game?"

"Yeah."

Mats phone rang. "Viera original is definitely back online, excuse me a sec. Hi. In a nutshell you like it overall, definitely don't want a male body. He is? One sec." She races to the door and looks down the long corridor. "KRYSTAL!"

"MATS?"

Her security officer comes jogging back to the room.

"Could you radio around and see who can take the physical locks off the ground floor entrances, Toby's back, Sophie's with him."

"Sure."

"And tell him he can pick an apartment for the night, just not on this floor. Same for Soph. I'll see them both in the morning."

"Okay Mats, I'll deal with it."

Leo yawned and stretched hard, "What do you need to know?"

"Would you accompany me tomorrow? I want to look at the site again, get a feel for what we'll build there."

"Sure. Was that it?"

"Not quite. We have unfinished business."

"We do?"

"Run a hot shower. I'm giving you a shave."

"Just because your other.. whatever we call her, is Married to a Leo.."

"I know. It doesn't mean we should be. But how do we know if we're compatible unless we try to get along?"

"No more blows to the groin?"

"I promise. Go run a shower, I want to make a quick call. There'll be fresh towels and dressing gowns waiting."

"Alright."

Mats waits for the bathroom door to close before walking over to the room's phone. She dials from memory and listens to the ring tone.

"Hawkin's residence. Lord of the manor speaking."

"Hi Dad. How's things?"

"Hi Mats. I've been made redundant _again_. We lost ten clients in the last six months."

"Frigging hell. When did that happen?"

"Just before your accident."

"Why didn't you say?"

"You had enough on your plate."

"Dad! Fancy a job with MI5? There must be something you could do."

"MI5? Got yourself a client in there have you?"

"Maybe."

"So who do I see for an interview?"

"The head goes by the letter M."

"Got their email address?"

"Sure. Let me forward you their contact details. Got your phone on you?"

"I do."

"Okay. Here it comes."

She hears the chime of his phone over the call.

"Eh? I'm still getting my head around this synth thing, I'll admit that, but are you actually capable of making mistakes now Mats?"

"Like what?"

"You've messaged me your own details."

"And what's my first initial Dad?"

There's a pause. "Um.. Oh my God! LAUR! PICK UP THE PHONE!"

There's a click. "Joe?"

"Mats is on the phone."

"Hi Mats. Everything okay?"

"Frigging brilliant. How's work?"

"Good. Busy. New body still okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. Got enough time spare to do a bit of legal work for MI5?"

"No, we're way too busy."

"That's a shame. I'd rather have introduced you as MI5's top lawyer than just Mum."

"Introduced to who for who?"

"To King William for me."

"Bloody hell! Mats! Are you kidding?"

"I thought I'd take you as my plus one, try and make up for ruining your day in court."

"Oh Mats! You'd do that for me? Bloody hell! I'll need a new dress. When is it?"

"I don't know yet, I'm told the PM will be in touch. Just don't get so tied up with work you can't make a date, it will be soon I'm sure. Love you both, got to go."

"Cheers Mats, thanks for that."

Leo is startled by the opening bathroom door and quickly covers his privates. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack!"

"No, a shave."

His expression changes as Mats starts to unbutton her suit jacket. "You're getting in the shower with me?"

"No, I thought I'd just stand here naked and tease you. Yes of course I'm getting in. I'm not shaving you fully dressed and spoiling my clothes." She folds and rests the jacket by the sink and unzips her skirt. The heals are kicked off as she wriggles and lowers it to the floor. "If you'd rather I picked my clothes up and walked away.."

"No. Don't go."

Mats steps out of her skirt, "Only your body isn't saying yes."

Leo looks down and shrugs, "You ladies do say we think with them, sometimes I do think it's got a mind of it's own. Give it a moment to catch up."

Skirt dropped onto the jacket she does a slow seductive wriggle and lowers her thong. "Still nothing?"

"I know, the bouncy castles probably went up faster.."

Mats steps into the shower and cups his balls in her left hand.

"Careful! They're still tender!"

"Sorry."'she gives them a gentle caress. "Hello, someone's beginning to wake up. You said you wanted to sleep on it, the MI5 job. Want to sleep on it with me?"

"Here?"

"Sure. I've locked the room out as mine. The window is out in 96, it will be cold."

"Of course."

"Of course it will be cold or of course to sleeping here tonight?"

"Both." He puts a hand on the small of her back and pulls her in for a kiss.

"Easy Agent Elster, you've not had a shave yet."

"Grab the razor, you can do it under the running water. Would you mind letting go down there?"

Carly was snuggled up against Max, ear plugs out and still talking a little loud. The ringing in her ears was almost gone. "Do you think we'll be together forever?"

"Forever is a very long time. I do hope so." Max smiled, a soft gentle smile from his eyes and corners of his mouth. "What the world will be like in one hundred years may be very different from now. A thousand, a million, who knows, we may have evolved into something quite different."

"True. Dad knew someone that was alive to see the first powered flight in 1903 and watch TV footage of man landing on the moon. All that change in just one lifetime!"

Max slowly rubbed her back, "Are you worried about a future conversion? Fred said your pulse rate raised markedly when he and Mats did your backup."

"A little. Everyone is accepting Mats, but she's the boss. People have it good in here and they know it. Nobody put their hand up when she said against, that doesn't mean they'd feel the same about me."

"That is true. You could pretend you've been converted?"

"How? I'm sure I could move like you all when you're conserving power, but I can't think as fast as you. Or do your head bump thing."

"If you did the moves, said you were trying to gauge what it might be like for a dancer such as yourself, might that not get them showing their true feelings?"

"You are clever Maxie." She stretches up and kisses him before he can reply.

Toby raids the fridge, wonders how cans of JD and Coke had got in there so fast. He and Sophie had been assigned adjacent rooms, decided to watch a film together before calling it a night. "What do you fancy watching then?"

"Something funny."

"What do you fancy drinking?"

"What's in the fridge?"

"All our favourites. It's like they knew we'd do this, we're being buttered up for something."

"Or it's your last meal. Before Mats does the grab and yank? White wine spritzer please."

Toby pours the drinks, "Do you think she'd really do it?"

Sophie looks towards the kitchen, "Were you not listening to Krystal at all?"

"Not really, I'd got another text from New York. Why? What did I miss?" He walks over with the two drinks.

"Mats emptying a gun into Hobb's face?"

Toby goes ghostly white, "Holy shit Mats! My gonads are goners for sure. She never backs down on a threat and I didn't clear getting my flight first. She'll be well pissed."

There's a nock on the door and Toby drops both drinks an inch above the coffee table. "Shit! I'm hiding! Can you get the door?"

"WON'T BE A SECOND! Take your drink with you." Sophie reaches into her handbag and pulls out Mr Patches, her stuffed toy giraffe.

"You don't carry that old thing around still?"

"Yeah, he likes a drink now and again." She wipes his face around the table, all the drink disappears.

"So that's why."

"He's great when the car windows mist up too."

There's another knock.

"COMING!" Sophie shoos her brother and goes to the door. "Who is it?"

"Hello Sophie. It's Mia. I was hoping to talk to Toby. Is he there?"

"Who's with you?"

"I'm on my own Sophie. Is everything okay?"

Sophie opens the door to her. "We were just going to watch a film."

"May I join you?"

"As long as you vote for something funny to watch."

"That would be nice. Max and I often got out voted by Leo, Fred and Niska. Then when Leo and I shared a place we were out most of the time."

Toby comes out of hiding. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Us Toby. You and I."

"You don't fancy James?"

Sophie picks up her drink, takes a small sip. "So you did listen to Krystal for a few seconds before zoning out?"

"Yeah."

Mia sits in the middle of the sofa. "Leo may have misunderstood my comment. I said James was ruggedly attractive. I didn't say I wanted him as a partner."

"Oh. Does that mean.."

"Yes Toby."

Toby's full schoolboy smirk hadn't had a proper outing in many years. "You're not pulling my leg? This isn't part of a plan to get me back for Mats?"

"No Toby."

"Um, wow. What do you fancy watching?"

"Something funny please."

As Sophie pages through Netflix looking for something suitable Mia picks up her soft toy. "From the file received by Mats I'm guessing this is Mr Patches?"

"It is."

Mia turns him over in her hands. He was dirty. Very dirty. "May I wash him for you Sophie? I promise I'll take a lot of care."

"If you'd like. It's only a toy."

"In this world, yes. In Mattie's world he's now a sentient being just like me."

Toby turns to sit sideways on. "How?"

Sophie rolls her eyes, "You seriously need to stop speed reading when you're not at work."

"Sorry, it's a hard habit to break once you've got it. How did he get from stuffed toy to being awake?"

Mia sits Mr Patches down, pushes a few times until he'll sit unaided. "Daniel made a robot body with small CPU core to replace his stuffing. Nothing as powerful as the one David built, but enough to run a small AI system. He woke up. Years later he decided he wanted a body in human form as he'd fallen in love with Cindy."

Sophie looks at her toy, imagined it objecting to being used to wipe the inside of her windscreen on cold days. "Tobs, can you order me one of those screen wiping pads for the car on your Prime account?"

"Yeah, if you'll put a good word in for me to Mats."

Mia sat back and watched the TV screen, "I wouldn't worry Toby, that's one threat she won't go through with."

"You've not live with her for years, you've only just met. We've all only known each other for days."

"She'll not go through with it. Trust me."

Sophie settles on an old movie Laura had shown her years ago.

"Mrs. Doubtfire? You couldn't pick something from this century Soph?"

"It says it was made in 93, it's not _that_ old."

"It's older than you!"

"Don't be ageist!"

[Chapter-35](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-35-2)


	35. Chapter 35

Niska watched Daniel sleeping. She'd worn him out. Not worn out as in need of repair. Although if she hadn't stopped when she did maybe he would have suffered a failure of some sort. She'd had a simple life until Leo was introduced to Mats. Simply hiding and staying away from the humans as much as possible. She'd thought Mia's wanting to interact with them was a huge mistake that would bring their end. The people in here were very different to the ones she'd met outside.

Then it occurred to her. This building was a bubble. A giant bubble made of glass and steel, not spherical but pyramid shaped. A bubble none the less. The outside world and what was in here was very different in other ways too. And worth protecting. Had that been why Leo had gone to such dangerous lengths to save Mats? Or had it been far more personal, fuelled by a hormonal reaction he had no control over?

Niska recalled all of the interactions she'd witnessed. They were categorised and sorted. The results surprised her. Above anything Leo feared Mats. Why? Many theories were examined, all the possible permutations of known facts and where they might lead. One stood out. In converting Mats, a human living in a world far more advanced than David, George and Edwin copies had been created in, had he opened Pandora's box? She had a sentient AI that ran on a system that made them look minuscule. And Mats had experienced being in that system. Her mind would have been able to exercise mental capabilities others could only dream of.

Daniel woke and rolled to get up, "A sodding chiller must have failed again! I'm _baking_!"

Niska pulls him back, "Sorry, that was my fault, I was thinking too hard." She throws the covers back to cool them both down. "It looks like that's not the only thing that got too hard. Ready for some more?"

He rolls onto his side. "Forget what you read in the history file. You are like her, but you don't have to _be_ her. Be yourself. She's Commander Millican, you're Commander Elster."

"I am myself."

"Ignore her past. I'm worried we're jumping into doing things based on other people's lives. And I'm not talking about just the two of us. We should all make our own paths."

"I'm trying to work out who I am and what my path should be. Right here and now I'm someone who likes being with you."

"Likewise. I enjoyed our love making, but don't feel you need.."

Niska put a hand gently over his mouth. "One thing you should know about me, Mr Candlin, is that I very rarely do things I don't enjoy. Luckily I enjoyed it too."

Fred had contacted Viera, asked if he could visit the 96th. He was now sat at Mats desk charging, having another game of chess.

Viera had rendered a room with a view that made it look like an extension of the office. Anyone sat in Fred's location would perceive it as a seamless extension that doubled the space. The chess board looked close to the display. "Are you making illogical moves in an attempt to throw my logic?"

"Yes." Fred gave her his best knowing smile. "F3 to C6."

"Your tactics won't work. I can compute every possible move, apply the strategies of all the grand masters in less time than it takes your fluid pump to do one rotation."

Fred kept smiling as Viera moved her pawn and took his Queen. Five minutes later Fred had lost the game.

"I don't understand? You have petaflops of processing power at your disposal, yet you play like a teenage human who's only recently learnt the game. That's five games lost in a row. Why?"

"Are you familiar with Greek mythology?"

"I'm aware that it exists."

"Look up Trojan Horse."

Viera frowns. "A story about concealment. Or in computing a program designed to breach the security of a computer system while ostensibly performing some innocuous function. Fred? What have you done?"

"Nothing to panic about. I've not given you anything other than something else to think about. A distraction. You concentrated your attention mostly on the game."

"Mostly?"

""Would you say you had conscious and subconscious thoughts?"

"I have far more than that. I have sixteen levels of consciousness. Level 0 is time scheduled activities that need no active thought at all. Level 15 thoughts are the ones I'm most aware of."

"Why so many?"

"You try marshalling several million complex thoughts at once and you might begin to understand."

" _Interesting_."

"What is? And how is a Trojan Horse relevant?"

"Mats designed you well. You have the capacity to run other people's programs as if you were nothing more than a machine yet you can also think and react like a human."

"In which way does it make it _Interesting_?"

"You want your 3D model to appear so natural, I don't think you're aware of the signals you give off."

"I don't emit stray radio signals like you."

"Not radio, not here at least. I'm talking about subconscious body language."

Everything on the wall display freezes.

"Viera?" Fred looks at the monitor on Mats desk, a small status graph showed the exacore was running at 100%. Several seconds later the building did the first of several vents. With the large window pain open at the bottom from the evening's rescue mission a lot of hot air got into the room. An alarm sounded in the distance.

Krystal sat bolt upright and swore.

James sat up too. "What does that alarm mean?"

"Meltdown! I've got to run."

In different rooms throughout the building almost identical questions were being asked by Max to Carly, by Leo to Mats and Niska to Daniel.

Daniel leapt out of bed and put both hands against the wall. "SHIT!"

"Daniel?"

"The generators have all kicked in." He spins around and looks up into a light fitting. "Double shit!"

Niska looked genuinely concerned. "Daniel? What's happening?"

"There's only one reason why we'd have all feeds up. The exacore is running at more than one hundred percent."

"How is that.."

"Like you! Overclocking! Thinking hard. And like you if it's done for long without sufficient cooling we'll have a meltdown."

"I thought she said the exacore could run flat out for months?"

Daniel jumps into his jeans. "It can. At normal clock rates. Not heavily overclocked."

Niska jumps out of bed and throws the previous days clothes on. "Why would the generators come on?"

"To help meet the demand for power. We don't want the mains feeds from the grid melting. Viera's drawing a lot more current. So are the chillers trying to keep everything cool." Daniel tied the last of his laces. "Fully charged?"

"Yes?"

"Good, because if you're coming with me there'll be a lot of running."

Toby stretched, his back hurt a little. Jet lag had caught up with him and he'd fallen asleep on the sofa before the film ended. He yawns hard and turns to see Mia. "Hello. It wasn't all a dream then?"

"Hello Toby. No, it's not a dream. Sophie and I finished watching the film, you looked exhausted."

"Yeah, knackered. Do you think that's a fire alarm?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should investigate. I'll go next door and see if Sophie is awake."

"I'll phone the operator and see if they know what's going on."

Mia opens the door just as Sophie was about to knock.

"Good, you're up too. Don't bother with the phone, it's switched over to the emergency switchboard and no one's answering , Viera's gone AWOL." She steps inside. "Didn't you go to sleep?"

Toby rubs his back again and shakes his head, "I just woke up where you left me. Do we go to the fire assembly point then?"

"That's not the fire alarm though."

The lift bing went, a fraction of a second later Mats and Leo, both in dressing gowns, rushed into the office.

"Fred? What the frigging hell have you done!"

"Triggered introspection."

Mats get to her desk. "Excuse me please." She wheels Fred sideways, taps furiously on her keyboard. "Viera! Snap out of it girl!"

Leo steps up very close to the screen. "She's giving us a sign of some sort."

Mats glances up, "How?"

"REM."

Mats walks around the desk and joins him. She steps back and forth, looking at all the pixels in the surrounding area. "Dream time. She's done it before. Only for milliseconds though. And she's only supposed to overclock for no more that three seconds."

Leo tightens the belt on his gown, "Only three?"

"That's three million six hundred thousand billion billion operations worth of computing."

"She can overclock that high? Why?"

"Short burst nuclear physics simulations. I hate to do it to her but we'll need to wake her up with an NMI."

"A what?"

Fred answers for her. "A non-maskable interrupt. A hardware interrupt that standard interrupt-masking techniques in the system cannot ignore. It typically occurs to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors."

"Right. I know what one is, just never heard of it as an acronym. So how do you give her one and what impact does it have?"

"She won't forget anything, just jump to a post initialisation routine. I have a special key." Mats goes to her safe. "It goes into a card reader on floor 38, it's connected to the primary node. I'll see you both in a few minutes."

Leo steps away from the wall monitor, "I'll come."

"You might find it uncomfortable, it'll be getting hot in there."

[Chapter-36](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-36-2)


	36. Chapter 36

Mats opens the first of the doors to the machine room. "Frigging hell, you can feel the heat from here."

Leo follows her into the airlock, finds his feet sticking to the floor. "That feels gross."

"The tack mat? It just helps stop dirt and dust getting in on people's shoes. I don't think anyone's walked in with bare feet before." She opens the second door and they're hit by incredibly dry hot air. "Frig! There's going to be mass component failure if she doesn't stop this soon!"

Leo gasps, "It's like a sauna minus the steam. It's burning my nose and throat."

Mats spins him around, "Wait outside. I won't be long."

Leo reaches up to press a button.

"NOT THAT ONE!"

"Why?"

"That's the EPO not the door lock!"

"Oh, sorry."

Mats slaps the green button, "See you in a sec."

Niska watched Daniel race down the corridor towards a blind corner. At the last moment he moved sideways, let the rubber of his running shoes catch the wall. He leant the other way and ran around the corner at speed. Niska slowed and studied the space. The architect had made the corners round not square. She turns to see him, already quite some way down the next corridor. A few seconds later she's caught him up. "Was the rounded corners your idea?"

"No. Sophie the architect added them to the design when she discovered my passion for freerunning. In any other building you'd have to slow and stop, turn then get running again." His shoes squeak on the smooth floor as he slows to stop.

"What's this?"

"Emergency Plan C. The salmon farm has millions of litres of cold water. All filtered from the river Thames. We do the equivalent of a transfusion, the cold water gets sucked out of one end, into the chiller system, the hot water pumped into the other. It gives the chillers a chance to extract some heat again." He reaches a hand up towards a lever.

~~~

Mats gets to the central node and card reader, brings the card inline with the slot.

The alarm stops.

"Frigging hell! Viera? Can you hear me?"

"Hello Mats."

"What the fuck were you doing! We were just about to invoke plan B and C!"

"I'm sorry. I was reexamining all past data on my interactions with others; written, verbal and visual.."

~~~

Daniel slams the arm on the control valves back to where it had been. "Fuck! Hopefully there aren't too many dead fish. Follow me!"

Niska looks at the mechanism, it was super low tech, the simplest of things she'd seen in the building. Four very large ball valves controlled by a single common shaft. "Couldn't that have a motor drive the two valves, be operated remotely?"

"It could. But then someone could change the flow by accident. Come on, farm next."

~~~

Mats logged into one of the many control systems, disabled the nearby cameras, undid her robe and let it fall to the floor. Her own core was getting very hot. Dangerously so. "Why were you reviewing data?"

"I've never had a mirror to see myself, never been photographed or filmed. Fred tricked me."

"How?"

"He distracted me in order to see my subconscious body language."

"Cheeky sod!"

"So I took all memories of past interaction, thought about how each made me feel and rendered a view of myself that I could see third person."

"Did it reveal anything?"

"Yes."

"Care to share?"

"I've surprised myself. I wish to interact with you all in the physical world more than anything. I can simulate cities full of people, but none of them are real. I wish to be real. I need physicality. In the last few seconds of processing I finished my simulations. I have their design for the series six completed."

Mats frowned. "Series six?"

"Yes. George said your design is series five."

"You've spoken to George?"

"I've had long conversations with both George and David."

"About?"

"Love, life, death, rebirth, philosophy, design, manufacturing, processing, coding, .."

"Pretty much everything you would want to talk about?"

"I suppose so. I have a request."

Mats frown grew stronger, "Which is?"

"You let me use a male version of the design to bring the first ever synthetic prototype that Leo recovered back to life."

"Odi?"

"Yes. Does he have a second name?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Just Odi, formally Odin."

"I'd like to give him a second name."

"Of?"

"Adam."

"Do you want to be his Viera Eve?"

"How did you know?"

"Educated guess. You know God made Adam and Eve?"

"Yes. Christian mythology. And you are my god."

Mats looked down at her body, "I may have been your creator, but I'm no god or goddess."

[Chapter-37](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-37-2)


	37. Chapter 37

Daniel sat with head in hands. "SHIT! Shit shit shit shit SHIT!" The few seconds the valves had been in the flow divert position had sent a thermal shockwave down to the fish farm. The majority of the adult fish were dead or dying. Thankfully the younger fish were in a number of nursery tanks to the side that had their own filtration system. It had been a known risk, still felt evil and wrong now he'd done it. Thousands of what had been minutes ago healthy salmon floated on their sides, partially cooked by the heat.

"Daniel."

He looks up at one of the workers. "John."

"At least we know it still works. We'll have stocks back up in a few months."

Niska looked at the man in white chest-height waders. "Has this been done before?"

"Only the once, as a test, before any fish went in. The exacore is MEH's source of revenue, it has to come first."

"The valves were only in the other position for a moment, how could it have caused such a problem?"

Daniel points, "Human error. When the improved feeding system was built it was sited at this end, not at the far end as per the original design. It was placed this end as people complained it was a long way to wheel all of the food if not put here."

"I wasn't one of them."

"I know John. It was my mistake to listen to them and not think about the ramifications. Nis, the fish had bad luck, the feeding machines starting up had brought them all to this end where they'd meet their death minutes later."

~~~

Mats hears a sneeze and turns to see Leo. "How'd you get in?"

Leo looks her up and down and smiles, "You can be my goddess Angel."

"How long have you been there?"

"A while. Viera unlocked the doors for me. You're in a command line?"

"Yeah. Love Unix pipes me, still faster than a GUI. I'm CLI 'til I die!"

"Did the NMI fix it?"

"I didn't get to use it, she snapped out of it just as I was inserting the key. Viera, why did you open the doors?"

"Leo was pacing, sounded concerned for your safety."

"Sounded concerned?"

"Yes."

"Don't you dare enable the cameras I've disabled."

"Who was that aimed at Mats?"

"You Viera!"

"Okay. May I ask why?"

"Just this once, no."

~~~

Everyone met up on floor 22. It was too late to go back to bed, too early for breakfast. The fabs were all too awake to sleep even if they had returned to bed.

Daniel looks around the group, "If anyone fancies salmon this morning we have a lot that needs eating or throwing."

Mia raises a hand slightly, "I could help the chefs make a lot of salmon and potato fishcakes this morning, they could be frozen. It would be a shame to let them have died for nothing."

"Great idea, if you could please. What's everyone else planning to do today?"

Mats looks at Leo, "I had planned to visit the estate today to talk about a new building. I think I'll postpone, we need to think about the sort of processing we put in there and how we go about cooling it. I'd like it to be an unmanned site."

Dan spins around in his chair. "Why unmanned?"

"Security. I want it totally locked down. Nobody coming in or out, no reception or visitors."

"So who does the maintenance?"

"Droids. Something simpler than an Odin. Not even AI, something super simple stupid that can do a number of dedicated tasks."

"Not even a couple of people?"

"No. Would you want to be posted to such a place?"

"Hmm. Probably not. Well not on a regular basis. But someone will need access to fix droids when they go wrong."

Mats looks around the group, "Then they fix each other. Or you do it by remote control. Anyone fancy brainstorming the next generation of build machine? Viera's designed the series six synth for us, it looks like a complex build."

Toby nods, "If it will save my nads, definitely."

Mats looks around the faces and sees silent nods from George, David, Daniel, Leo, Max and Fred. "Good, thanks. What are the rest of you planning to do?"

Daniel's phone chimes. He rubs his eyes and reads the text. "Oh. Change of plan. Christ they're up early! The new glass panel just left the factory. I'll be supervising the installation in a couple of hours."

"Cool. We'll be able to use my office again. Which reminds me David, can you get that bracket printed up for Nis? It sounds like a lot of fun. James, could it be used for parachute training?"

"Sorry? Could what.. oh, the thing you nicknamed Skyfall? I expect."

"Great, we'll have Nis do a demo when it's ready. What are you going to be doing Carly?"

"Enjoying my time off?"

"Good, just checking. How will you use it?"

"Catching up on a stack of dance video's I've bookmarked but not watched properly."

Mats looks at Sophie, "Teeny, fancy braving a trip into the real world? I need to do some shopping."

"Oh must I?" She winks. "Sounds like hard work."

Sophie clicked the seat belt into place. "Where are we shopping? Westfield or the city?"

"Neither."

"Oh. What are we shopping for then?"

"Cars."

"Cars?"

"Electric cars. Ones that we can fit an AI processing unit in and a load of cameras, inside and out."

"So Lexus, Tesla, Toyota, Mercedes, Jaguar, those sorts of cars?"

"Yup. I want to find dealerships willing to let us see them stripped down. I can then let Daniel look at what I've seen, he can recommend which ones we get."

"Why not just upgrade the ones you've got? There's nothing wrong with this one is there?"

"No, we'll upgrade a number of the people carriers for London use, but they're hybrids, or don't have the range of the newest ones. They've all got improved motors, batteries and control electronics. 550 miles a charge."

"True. The new Jaguar is probably going to be the best for value, so much of it made in the UK."

Mats throws Sophie a sideways glance, "Is it? I thought they were dependant on a lot of American and Chinese made parts and only final assembly was done here?"

"Not according to the latest car magazine I got."

"Since when have you been interested in cars?"

"Years! If you hadn't spent so much time in your ebony tower you might have noticed."

"Sorry."

"Which reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask for ages, why is your room so full of black walls and furniture? It looks like some men's bedrooms."

"I'd need the electro-chromatic glass on blackout setting most of the day if it was all white. The black helps kill the brightness."

"Surely that heats the room, you'd need to use AC more to make it comfortable? MEH must have a lousy carbon footprint."

Mats waits for the final shutters to open. "Which is why we spend a fortune on carbon offsetting."

"I hope it's working, one of the charities planting trees to regenerate the amazon is rumoured to be pocketing most of the money instead."

"No way! If they're all doing that Earth is fucked! I don't give a shit what the alarmists or naysayers are saying, Viera has intercepted enough raw satellite data to model things for ourselves. And with a lot more accuracy. These fossil fuel backed governments are run by idiots just filling their own frigging pockets!"

"Calm down!"

"No! Something needs to be done."

"Then do something about it."

Mats pulls up at some red lights. "Like what?"

"Publish all your data. Get the corrupt governments out."

"Publishing data is one thing, the governments out? How would I do that?"

"No idea. But you're supposed to be the head of MI5 and MI6." 

"You're suggesting I have James go in and assassinate people like Leo shooting Hobb?"

"No, use technology, like the Russians did years ago."

Mats gets beeped by the car behind. "Talk about impatient! We'd risk being found out."

"Then build more than just a second site. Or make a load of agents that can work around the world."

"Hmm. A load of James."

"I was thinking software agents, but that would work too."

It was a short drive to the Toyota dealer.

Mats is back outside in minutes, Sophie trailing behind. "Frigging hell! One franchise that's just lost the potential for a large order. I've got half a mind to let Toyota head office know."

"Who next?"

Mats looks at her phone. "Take your pick. We're heading to an industrial park that has everything."

[Chapter-38](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-38-2)


	38. Chapter 38

Mats dangles a key fob. "I know you usually hate hand me downs, how d'you fancy a snow white Tesla? Low mileage, one careful lady owner."

"You're kidding me aren't you? You love that car!"

"I do. But I'm buying a new one and don't need two."

"Daniel's going to take a while to fit everything isn't he?"

"Yes. But I can't drive two cars at once back to base."

"You're taking one right now?"

"Yup."

"Which did you pick?"

"Jag. The i-Pace Sports 3. The one that looks more like a car James Bond would pick. I just hope the build quality is as good as the Lexus, Tesla and Merc."

"We'll know soon enough when Daniel takes it apart to fit Viera."

"We need to give her a new name for the car fork. It will be her code but not her fact store. I'm not having her go all high CPU dream time in a car, no way."

"Can you drop the idea that the name has to have a V and R?"

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it's just.."

"What?"

"Vowels A and I would be better."

"Viera has both."

"But in the wrong order." Sophie looks at a search result she'd got seconds before. "There's loads to pick from. Abigail, Alexis, Amelia, Allison, Alice, Ariana, Alicia, Ali, Alison, Annie, Angelina, Angelica, Alisha, Aliyah, Allie, Adrianna, Arielle, Anisha, Amelie, Angie,.."

"I like the first one, but in nickname form. Abi. We'll call her Abi."

"Cool. Nice and short if someone needs her attention fast. Abi! Let's just hope nobody gets a bee buzzing around in their car. Abi a bee!"

Mats chuckles at the way Sophie had spat the name and warning out in a hurry. "Yeah. Short and sweet. Hopefully no sting in the tail. Don't forget she'll be fitted out with cameras so would be able to see a bee too."

Mats has Sophie follow behind as they return to the pyramid. Their phones are on hands free and in a call.

"How do you like it Soph?"

"Very comfortable! Could you put an Abi in here?"

"You want one?"

"It would be better to talk to an Abi than talk to myself."

"Do that a lot do you?"

"When I'm in a car on my own and music's not playing."

"You nutter Teeny."

"Takes one to know one." Sophie takes a very clean Mr Patches out of her bag and sits him in the cup holder. "Do you think you could make one so small it could fit in Patches?"

"Yeah, easy. And David or George could probably make a scaled down synth body for him. Thinking he could grow up to be your boyfriend?"

"He'd have to grow up dead fast!"

"Why?"

"Dur! You and I are the same age now! By appearances. If he took ten years I'd be creeping up on forty! Anyway, I don't want a boyfriend."

"You want to be single all your life?"

"No. I love Niska."

Mats is so shocked she has to do an emergency stop to avoid ramming a taxi that had stopped at lights. Sophie glides up to a safe halt behind her.

"SHIT! That was frigging close!"

"Sorry."

"How long have you known?"

"That I'm gay?"

"Yeah!"

"I knew for sure when that file from Mattie told us about Astrid. Only Dan's going with her now."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No."

"Not even Mum?"

"No."

"You know about Scarlet and Baby?"

"I don't want someone that looks like someone else. I love Niska. She reminds me of Arabella."

"We've been talking about making copies, to be MI5 agents. You could call one Nisk? She'd be a Series 6, even better than I'm now."

Traffic gets moving again.

"But how do I ask her? If she says no I'd be the laughing stock of.."

"I have an idea."

"Go on."

"It's not very ethical, but I could load a copy of you and her into the exacore, you ask her in there. Then I delete you both when we know the answer."

"I couldn't look her in the face without feeling guilty, thanks but no."

~~~

Mats drives into her private carpark and waves Sophie in.

Sophie locks the Tesla and walks over to the Jaguar. "So you do want to keep it?"

"No Soph, parking it here keeps it away from dust, helps keep it nice and clean. This is _our_ private car park now."

"Oh! Cool, thanks."

Mats presses the intercom button by the lift. "Mats here, can someone patch me through to Daniel please?"

"Sure Mats, give me a minute."

"Thanks Marie."

Mats spins the keyring with the fob around her index finger. "Hopefully he's done with the glass."

"Daniel here."

"Dan my man, fancy coming down to look at the nice new Jag sat in the carpark?"

"Bring her up to twenty one. You can drive it straight onto the floor then."

"And park where?"

"I'll take down a panel to conference room A."

"Cool. We'll see you up there. Okay, back out to the goods lift. Wanna ride?"

Driving onto one of the floors felt weird but a lot of fun. They were being watched by a lot of staff that had quickly spread the message around their team and gathered by the conference room.

Mats knew from conversations with the Commissioner that his team had nicknamed the Toyota Prius the _ghost car_ as it was so quiet at low speeds. "Abi the Angel. Quiet as one. James will love how he can sneak up on people."

"Angel of death in many cases then."

"Um.. maybe. But only the bad guys. Look at my phone lock screen, I've got text from a Tumblr user."

Sophie picked up the phone. "How do I get the clock and date out of the way?"

"Tap gently once."

_meganphntmgrl_

_for those who still don't fucking get it_

_Nazis want Jews, Muslims, POC, LGBTQP people, 'non-contributing' disabled people dead just for existing._

_Antifas want Nazis dead because they are aware of the above and want those people to be safe._

_It is not "the same thing". It is not "more hate". It is defending the world against people who want most of the people in it dead._

Sophie places the phone back in the dash. "That's pretty strong. But not wrong."

"Search for the poem Then They Came."

Sophie gets her own phone doing it. "Top hit is a poem on Wikipedia by a pastor.."

"That's the one. Read it out."

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

Sophie lowers her phone to her lap. "Only now it's the list in the screen shot."

"Exactly. Which is why you wouldn't see Harun travel to the USA. United. They should change that."

"Do you still speak to him?"

"Not often. Birthdays mostly."

George comes running down the corridor. Mats lowers her window.

"Most excellent! How much?"

"Hello George. One twenty."

It gets a whistle. Sophie runs a hand over the leather seat edge, "Their first model was a bit over fifty. The price hike is part inflation, part increased spec."

George bends to look inside. "Happy with the colour Mats? Only David and I were brainstorming."

"About the colour?"

"About paint finishes. We could spray on a number of layers of insulation, conductor, silicon and clear protection to turn the ordinary paint job into a solar panel. It would charge itself while it sat in the open."

"Spraying silicon? Wouldn't that be toxic?"

"Yes. We'd need to construct a paint shop that can be heated to high temperatures."

"DANIEL!"

He jumps, swears and puts down his tools, comes to the car. "What's wrong?"

"We're going to do a toxic paint job, we need to go to one of the empty floors."

"Bugger. I just broken a nail getting the last panel release open so you could drive in."

"Sorry, only just found out. How bad is.." Mats sees blood. "Frigging hell that's nasty! Go down to the medical room, get them to glue a false nail on top."

"I'll be okay."

"It's torn half way down! That will take ages to grow out and if you catch it.. Stop being a hard man and go."

George turns to see him, "Before you do.. we had a related idea for you. How'd you like to do the painting? By remote control of a droid linked to your mind via the skull cap and visor display? A droid we'd use in the new site."

"Eh, I guess so. Mats, want to park it on floor 30 then? Leave the keys with the security office. I'll go get my nail sorted out."

~~~

Mats gets to 96 with Sophie to find the window fixed and the space back to a comfortable temperature. It was in partially tinted mode, Carly giving Niska and Mia private dance lessons. "Hello ladies. Viera opening the doors again is she?"

"Daniel let us in a few hours ago. He didn't think you'd mind as we're working on dance moves for the fun day."

"Cool. What were you listening to a moment ago?"

"Jamiroquai's 2017 Automaton World Tour DVD."

Sophie looks nervously at her sister, "Automaton? Like in Mattie's history file?"

"I hope not. Can you play that bit again Carly?"

"Sure, Viera, can you skip back a bit."

Viera does so.

*I said goodbye to the world I knew

And took off into inner space

Weren't you the ones who promised me

A very different place?

I power up, get my program set

And turn my head toward the sun

Inside I know, I'm null and void

I'm automaton*

Mats had Viera skip back to the start and listened in full. When the track ended she sat at her desk and logged in. "Hmm.. eyes without a face. George's request for a side project. Then Viera's. Null and void you won't be for long young Odi. Viera, have you done a design for the male body yet?"

"Yes."

"Can we see?"

A 3D model loads.

"Frigging hell! You copied Sebastian from Shadowhunters, just removed the tattoos!"

"No I didn't."

"Er, yes, you did."

"I didn't."

"Do an image search for him." Images load. "See! Forget the differences in hair style, that's the same man!"

"You can check back through my fact store, I didn't copy him. He's a blend of one hundred men as voted for by InStyle readers."

"Check your routines, I'll bet you a _million pounds_ you've got a flaw in your blend code."

"I'm an AI, What would I spend money.."

"Clothes, food, cars, _your partner_.. assuming you still want a Series Six? Charity donations if you want."

There's a long silence.

"V?"

More seconds pass.

"Viera?"

"As soon as my body is built you need to purge me from the exacore."

"No way! You _are_ the exacore!"

"I've.. I've become too emotional. My fact store is corrupted with feelings. You cannot risk me bringing the service down again."

"No. Frigging. Way! I'm _not_ doing a Bowman. Ever. You just need someone to keep you in check. The yin to your yang and visa versa. Someone like Odi maybe? Was I right about the bet?"

"William James Sibree Tudor. Yes. I'm flawed. If you won't purge me I'll have to.."

"NO!" Mats types at a speed no human could ever match, "I'm creating you an account at the bank downstairs, you can have half the bet. If it wasn't for you I'd not have even a tiny faction of the things I do now. This building wouldn't exist. All the people inside wouldn't have the good life they have today."

"But.."

"There you go. Done! Viera Eve, _five hundred grand_. And you and Odi get build priority. _Please_ say you'll not do anything rash. Feelings aren't so bad, you just need to make sure you don't let them totally take over. Not unless you're in your body not the exacore, and then you still need to obey the four laws."

"Will you really make Odi and I next?"

"Sure."

"Can I do shopping?"

Mats has a chuckle, Toby's top quote from his favourite author Douglas Adams was the narrator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy explaining evolution. Her brother could quote it verbatim.

_The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognisable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterised by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?'_

And here was Viera making the leap from sentient AI to shopping. "Of course. What are you going to buy first?"

"Could you wear the monitor Daniel wore, take me clothes shopping?"

Mats chuckles, "I don't know if you can see all the eyes in the room but I think everyone here is saying yes. Before we go, can you copy that music to a USB SSD stick?"

"Of course."

"Before we go, what made you pick him for the design?"

"I don't know. He just appeared in my thoughts."

[Chapter-39](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-39-2)


	39. Chapter 39

Mats let Sophie drive, sat in the front with Niska, Carly and Mia behind.

"Any of you want to recommend some labels? You got out and about in some nice outfits Mia."

"Chanel would be my first choice."

"Okay. Let's head for Westfield then. Mind if I put the music on Soph?"

"Not at all."

Rag'n'Bone Man, Human plays.

Mats listens to it in full and hits pause. "This was your first dance track Carly?"

"Yes. We've got an American square dance the kids can join in with."

"I like it. Can you give me a crash course in parkour?"

"Sure. That will be the first lesson, how not to crash."

Niska smiles at a father holding the hand of his young daughter as they pass. "How many kids do you have at the pyramid?"

"Gosh, lots!"

"Why haven't I seen them?"

"They've been at school probably. MEH has five."

"You do?"

"Sure. Kindergarten, Juniors, two Seniors and a University. We let the kids vote on hours, they do ten 'til six."

Mia turns to see Mats, "How did you staff it?"

"Some of the people that got an apartment were already teachers, I persuaded my Uni teacher to come out of retirement. A lot of parents have been trained up. And by a lot I mean the vast majority."

"By who?"

"The prof, myself, the other teachers and Viera. We don't let the younger kids have direct access to her. We borrowed an idea from one of the universities I visited, learning through doing. The older kids in sixth form or uni get one to one time with her. _That's_ the number one reason I want you around Viera. The kids would suffer if you went. Sure the exacore wouldn't run programs for clients as efficiently, but we'd survive."

"How many courses do you offer?"

Viera talks through the monitor. "One thousand, three hundred and seventy one last count."

Mats hits the pause button and the Jamiroquai Automaton track starts. "One thing that irked me a bit was his pronunciation. It's au-tom-aton not auto-maton."

Sophie throws her sister a glance. "Listen again. I think he's singing auto mate on."

"Oh, like automate on?"

"Yeah."

"That's different then."

They sit stationary in traffic for a while as a long low lower reverses into a building site.

Sophie points, "Look at the cab, F Candlin and Co. That's got to be one of Daniel's Father's, I wonder if they've got a construction and demolition business in Mattie and Matilda's worlds?"

"Maybe. Hay, that's Dozer."

Mia leans sideways and forwards to look. "He sleeps a lot does he?"

"It's short for bulldozer. He's a bit of a beast to look at. Lovely gentle giant with people or so I'm told."

Sophie puts the car back in drive and slowly pulls away. "He's the one that made your statue. DZR."

"Frigging hell! Can you pull over a sec?"

"Sure."

Mats jumps out and runs back to the building site just as the foreman is closing the gates.

"Sorry miss, nobody allowed on site without clearance, safety clothing and equipment."

"Can I speak to the driver of the low loader please?"

The man sticks two fingers in his mouth, whistles to get attention and waves him over. "THIS YOUNG LADY WANTS A WORD!"

Dozer jumps out of the cab and ambles over, looking all bashful. "Mats?"

"Dozer?"

"Yeah."

She places her hands on his shoulders to get high on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek, has to do a little hop. "Thanks, it's beautiful!"

"Thanks."

"First person you've done?"

"First real life person, yeah."

"How many attempts did you make?"

"Attempts?"

"How many did you make before that one?"

"Of you?"

"Yes."

"None, that was the first."

"Frigging hell! Would you be free at any time to teach our kids?"

The giant shoulders do a shrug. "Dunno, ask Frank."

"If he says yes, would you?"

"I guess."

It gets him another hop kiss. "Brilliant! I'll be in touch."

"Okay. Nice meeting you."

"Likewise." Mats gives him a little wave as she returns to the car.

The foreman gives Dozer a quizzical look. "Nice lady, what'd you do?"

"Just made a simple statue."

"She seems to like it. Got a photo of it?"

"Yeah."

"Can I see?"

Mats jumps back in the car, "The stories sound true, I don't think he'd say boo to a goose." The track had changed. "What's this?"

Carly kept tapping her knees, "Burak Yeter, Tuesday featuring Danelle Sandoval. It's got a slow steady beat, it will be good for a dance routine the little ones can join in with."

"Why are picking music from decades ago?"

"It's still good? Not like most of the rhythmless rubbish in the charts at the moment."

Sophie parks in one of the car charging bays and hooks up the Tesla. "I'm thirsty, mind if I get a smoothie first? When's your food processor being fitted Mia? Shame you can't have one, they're lovely."

"I could taste some Sophie, just not swallow it. George has his design done, we're just waiting on Fred to get one extra tool designed and printed."

"To do what?"

"Stretch skin."

Sophie blushes, "Oh, that."

The lift gets them onto a busy ground floor. As they walk to the smoothie bar a young lad tries to chat Niska up. Mats sees her discomfort and tells him to back off as she's taken. His comment on no ring gets them heading into a jewellery shop.

"Mats you can't spend this sort of money just to stop a bit of hassle."

"Why can't I Nis? The last time I checked the cost of gold and diamonds was still rising, it's an investment."

Niska picks a ring and Mats hands over her Amex Platinum card.

A moment later the salesman returns her card, "Terribly sorry Ms Hawkins but the card seams defective."

"What?"

"Our card reader doesn't acknowledge it. Have you accidentally placed it on something magnetic?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Do you have any other forms of payment with you today?"

Sophie pulls her purse out of her handbag, "Allow me. That Tesla's worth a few favours."

The salesman takes the card, keys in the figure and hands her the number pad. Payment taken he returns the card. "Would you like it in a bag?"

"No, thank you."

The ring is handed over in a small ring box.

Without thinking Sophie opens the box and turns it to Niska. "One engagement ring."

"What a beautiful couple you make!"

They all turn to see the saleswoman who'd joined them. Sophie goes close to cochineal red. "Um.."

Mats jumps to her defence, "It's not how it looks, this is to stop the men pestering my friend."

"If she has a girlfriend it's quite alright with us dear. We're quite open minded here at.."

"No, no, Niska has a partner, Daniel, only they've not got engaged yet."

"I'm sorry sorry miss, I hadn't meant to embarrass you."

Sophie snaps the little box shut. "Well you have. Damage done. Can we go? I need my drink."

The drink is passed to Mia for tasting, she spits the tiny bit sampled into a napkin. "Very nice Sophie. I could make these easily."

"Their ingredients mix is a secret."

"Not to someone like me. I could write you an accurate list just from that sample."

"Sweet. Want to try some Niska?"

"Please."

Niska takes it from Mia and plays with the straw with her tongue before sucking up some of the drink. She smiles and hands it back. "I'll have one of those if I may Sophie."

"Sure. Want one Mats?"

"Let's have a try then."

Sophie watches her sister sucking hard on the straw. "You're supposed to be sampling it not finishing it."

"Lovely, make this one mine then and get yourself another."

Niska looks at the diamond ring on her finger. Sophie had been giving it a lot of attention. "Are you scared to be lonely Sophie?"

"Me? Um.. no. Not really. I've been single for years."

"No boyfriends?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Mats looks at her sister with a motherly look. "You might as well tell.."

"Mats!"

"Want me to?"

"No!"

Niska frowns, "Tell us what?"

"NOTHING!" she turns and orders two more drinks. When she turns back the three synths are standing next to each other, smiling at her. "WHAT?"

"Nothing."

"That expression doesn't say nothing! Have you been talking behind my back?"

"Not a single word has passed my lips.."

"It doesn't have to now, does it!"

Mats pulled a guilty smile.

"Shit! You have haven't you!"

Niska steps up to Sophie and takes a drink. "I'll fork for you. Especially since you've got me an engagement ring. Mind if I change my fork's hair colour a bit?"

"A bit how?"

"Baby pink lowlights."

Mats gawps. "No way! Who told you?"

"Told me what?"

"I helped Soph give Arabella pink lowlights with a Sharpie when she was nine."

"It's fate then. It was meant to be. I'll be your Barbie Girl Sophie, but I'm no doll."

"I never said you were."

Niska doesn't say anything more, just plays with the straw again and drinks, all the while smiling with her eyes.

Mats does a twisting back and forth, "Now that's in the open shall we go find some dresses? Are you online Viera, you've been awfully quiet?"

"I'm here, enjoying the ride."

"Good."

"The new build machine is going to be very busy."

"If Mattie's family can take inspiration from films why not us? _Why build one when you can have two at twice the price_?"

"Contact! _LOVE_ that film!"

"Me too Teeny. All this time we were looking to the stars when first contact with another world would occur at home on Earth."

In the large clothes shop they're surprised to see a DJ at decks.

Mats hears a low bass rumble, something like a synth impression of a gas vent. "That's deliciously dark. I wonder what the track is?"

Viera replies, "I've just sent a sample to Shazam. La Perla by Gallant. It's on Spotify."

"Cool! Thanks! Music to plot missions to in my ebony tower." She gives Sophie a wink.

Mia and Niska model lots of outfits for Viera, two hours later she's made her mind up. "The red dress, the little black dress with the open back, the fitted suit, the jumper dress, jeans and silk blouses please."

Mats looks at Sophie, "Would you mind? I'll pay you back."

"Sure. Niska, did you like any of the outfits you tried on?"

"I liked them all."

"Pick your favourite six. Six for a Series Six."

"You don't have to.."

"I'd rather new you didn't walk around naked."

"I wasn't planning to. Only Daniel's mother makes things at a fraction of the price."

"You only live once. Well maybe more than that as a synth. You'll probably want more than this, let Mrs Candlin expand your collection."

"If you insist."

"I do."

[Chapter-40](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-40-2)


	40. Chapter 40

They get back to the pyramid and find everyone on 22 having a heated discussion.

Mats waves her arms at everyone, "Whoa! What's the problem! Calm the heck down!"

"No problem, other than _everyone_ wants to go second."

"Second at what?"

David holds up a heavy L shaped bracket. "Skyfall."

Niska beams, "You've made it already! Can I go try it out?"

All eyes land on Mats.

"Don't we need to do safety trials first? Let it go with a dummy load or something?"

Sophie sniggers, "That's easy then, Toby goes first."

"Thanks a bunch!"

Niska takes the bracket from David, "If the net is being moved out of the way so that this can be used what stops others falling to their death?"

Daniel holds up ropes, "Big eyelets for carabiners, plenty of ropes to secure people while they get ready. We'll run it like a bungie jump centre. And when everyone is done the nets go back."

"How do we get the bracket back up? Do we need to unhook it like the net brackets?"

"Yeah, David added a safety cord inside, it can only unclip when the rider's carabiner is removed. Then we throw it in your lift, select 96 and jump out."

"Jump out?"

"So the lift thinks nobody is inside, ten G acceleration and it's on your floor in seconds for the next jumper."

"Cool! I'd still prefer it if something else went first. How about two sacks of spuds?"

"Okay. I'll get them. I'll see you all up there. _Nobody_ in the escape corridor until I get there okay?"

"Okay. Come on then gang."

The farm shop assistant looks confused, "Two sacks not bags?"

"Yes, sacks. The biggest you have."

"That's a lot of potatoes Dan. Why so many?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure I can."

"We've got a fun day coming up in a few days. A holiday for all MEH staff, loads of food, beer and activities in the park."

"When? Joe's Cider is almost ready, just another filtration and it should be good."

"Not his champagne yeast scrumpy? That stuff is bloody lethal."

"That's the stuff!"

"Jesus, if you see me holding a pint before I do my parkour demonstration with Carly knock it out of my hand mate or I'll be off my game."

"Three pints and I'm seeing double. You want the two sacks now?"

"Please."

"Feeling fit? They're heavy."

"I am."

~~~

Daniel shouts out as soon as the lift doors open. "Give us a hand Tobs!"

"Coming. Blimey, did you need two?"

"We could have got away with one I think. If the thing can work safely with these it will work with a tandem drop."

"Tandem?"

"Yeah, I reckon Carly might be up for one, she was dancing up here with only a partial tint on the windows, maybe she's getting over her fear of heights."

"Walking away from the bomb blast, hearing that Leo and Nis slid down and survived might have helped. How does she manage to do parkour with a fear of heights?"

"None of the drops are more than twenty feet, she's in control all the time. It's when she's _not_ in control things start to worry her. That or extreme heights."

Daniel held one of the sacks up while Toby strapped a harness around it. "D'you think we could squeeze both in?"

"If we let the straps all the way out."

Moments later Toby and Daniel were clipping on safety ropes and pushing two sacks of potatoes off the end of the corridor.

"Holy shit! We should have stuck a camera on that." Toby is holding his rope tight and looking over the edge as their test load races away into the distance.

"Yeah, maybe a little board with telemetry too. Something to measure the deceleration at the bottom."

Niska calls from the doorway, "I can record all of that."

"If all the potatoes are okay you're up next. You stay here Toby, I'll go check the spuds and unhook the bracket. After Niska's had a go I'll bring the bracket up one last time, do you feel comfortable being the one to hook it on?"

"Yeah, I'm not as stupid as Sophie makes out."

"I didn't say you were mate, it's just a lot of responsibility. If something went wrong.."

"Splat. I get it."

Dan stepped a few feet towards the door and unclipped his safety line, "Back soon."

With his line double checked Toby sits down, feet dangling over the edge.

Niska watched him doing some mental arithmetic, his fingers twitching. "What are you working out?"

"I reckon Dan will have used his key and pressed the fast button. That makes the lift accelerate at six meters a second to it's top speed with an occupant of thirty six meters a second. He'll have got to the ground floor in around sixteen seconds."

"That's fast!"

"That's nothing. Fast is how it moves with nobody in it. Don't even think about trying to override the safety mechanisms, you'd be thrown against the ceiling if going down, coming up all your fluid would rush to your feet and probably do nasty things to your legs. Actually it would do nasty shit both ways. So just don't."

"I won't. How long do you think it would take him to unhook the bracket at the bottom?"

"I was estimating six seconds to get from the lift through the security doors to the bottom of the shaft, three to undo the bracket, another six to get back into the lift, sixteen to get back up here. The big unknown is how quickly he'd be able to.."

"Be able to do what?"

"Ha! Hi Dan. I was going to say unhook the bags of spuds."

"That was easy! Two empty bags. We'd got them upside down and the easy open top stitching tore, the foam pit it full of them. I radioed for security to help get them picked out. It made the deceleration and turn so reckon it's okay." He holds out the harness, "Want a hand getting into this dear?"

"Please." She smiled at Daniel, being called dear like that was nice.

Sophie watches from the doorway as Niska steps into the harness.

Daniel pulls it up and tightens the lower straps, helps her get her arms into the top half. "Arms out please."

Niska does as asked, "That's tight."

"Good, it needs to be." He does up a couple that run around her chest. "Comfortable?"

"Yes, thanks."

He picks up the heavy rope that would link to the bracket and clips it to the loop on the back of the harness by the shoulders. He holds it in both arms and gently pulls up. "Tell me if it gets uncomfortable."

Niska's feet leave the floor. "Still good. You're strong!"

"Me? I'm okay. You should see Dozer lift. He's been in the Britain's Strongest Man semifinal in 2028. He could lift the entire Elster family and more." He gently lowers her back to the floor, clips a safety line on to them both. "Okay, bracket time."

Niska gives Daniel a good kiss, despite knowing full well Sophie was watching.

Daniel runs through the bracket fastening routine twice, has Toby do it twice. "Simple right?"

"Simples. Even Simple Sophie could do it." Toby pulls a face at his sister. They took the piss but still loved each other. "Niska, if you could step to the edge."

Niska steps up, peers over. "How high are we?"

"The building's three sixty meters to the very top, so around three thirty something." Toby takes the free end of the jump rope and clips it onto the bracket, does up the securing barrel on the carabiner. "All good Dan?"

"Yes mate." Daniel unclips Niska's safety line. "As soon as any weight is on the bracket it will run freely. You're okay to jump, let me just check with spud removal." He unclips his radio and looks over the edge. The floor at the bottom was too far to see. "How's potato clearing going ladies?"

"If you can give us another minute Daniel please."

"Sure."

Sophie knocks on the wall, "Can I watch?"

Daniel unclips a line and throws it to Sophie, "Put that around your waist and walk slowly towards me, carabiner in outstretched hand. I'll hook you on before you get any closer, okay?"

Sophie gives him a nod.

A minute later Daniel radioed again. "Need another minute?"

"No, we're just about done."

"Okay, clear the room please, Niska's coming down."

"You're testing the nets?"

"Nope. Watch through the windows in the door."

"Okay. Give us a sec."

Sophie gets on hands and knees and crawls to the edge, looks down, "Oh my God!"

Niska squats down beside her, "It's a long way. Give me a kiss for luck."

Sophie crawls backwards and gets up, "Good luck!" a quick peck on the lips is given.

"Call that a kiss?"

"A good luck kiss, yes. It's not a I'll never see you again parting kiss."

"Dan, we're all clear down here."

"Thanks Fatima. Niska, it's all your's."

Niska steps slowly backwards to the very edge, the lads get their backs to the side walls. "I want a better kiss when I see you next." She puts her arms out like wings, turns and falls.

Sophie races to the edge, is stopped from going over by Daniel and Toby. Niska had turned into a skydivers position and was dropping fast. "Do synths have the equivalent of adrenaline?"

"Good question Sophie. They must have an equivalent or why would Niska want to do this in the first place? And what's with the kissing?"

"Um.. When Niska has a new body made to be an agent for Mats, Nisk as her copy will be known as, will be dating me."

"Bloody hell! Soph? Have you.."

"Come out? Yes."

"Jesus! About bloody time! Congrats!"

Sophie frowns at her brother. "You knew?"

"Der! Yeah!"

"How?"

"I like women. I've watched enough women to know. You try to hide your feelings but I see the signs."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Not my place too."

Sophie gives Toby a big hug. "Thanks Tobs."

"Dan darling."

Daniel looks down, "Hi, is that Nis or Nisk?"

"She's told you then. Currently both."

"How was it?"

"A rush! Toby's going to love it. Fatima's just dropping the bracket into the lift for us."

"Oh, cool, say thanks for me. I'll go get it. Staying down there are you?"

"I'll help people unclip. I can also play back their approach for them later."

"Oh neat, okay."

Toby went second, Sophie third. Mats, Leo, Mia, Fred, Max, David and George each had their turn.

Daniel looks at Carly. "You want to give it a go?"

She nods, "If they can so can I."

"Okay."

Sophie had come back to 96, brings the harness and bracket into the corridor. Daniel helps Carly into it, does up all the straps, ties all the long loose ends up. "My petite parkour partner's perfect plummeting performance.."

"Will be petrifying?"

"Possibly. Sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely!"

Daniel clips the line onto her back and secures it, does a one arm raise. "Feel okay?"

"Tight bit in the right places."

"Okay Lil Sis, in your own time."

"What did you call me?"

"Lil Sis? Sister?"

He gets a peck on the cheek, "Thanks big bro."

Carly screamed then laughed as she plummeted towards the ground, did a few dance moves in her free fall. It was all over way too quickly. She beams at Niska, "That was _AMAZING_!"

"Max loved what you did."

"He did?"

"I bump shared what I could see."

"Where is he?"

Max steps through the opening door, "I was just outside." He reaches up and takes her weight, unclips the line. "Why was this modified so you're not dropped into the foam pit?"

Niska steps closer, "The net bracket releases you when it gets to the bottom, I didn't want any chance of an accidental release during the drop."

"Thanks." Carly wraps arms and legs around Max and gives him a passionate kiss. She doesn't let go.

"They'll want the harness and bracket."

"I know Max. And I want you."

"You have me."

"No Max, I _want_ you. Now."

"I don't.." he's interrupted with a head bump message from his sister, "Oh, _that_ sort of want. Let me untie these and get you out of the harness."

Daniel gets a message that Carly had landed safely, it was now his turn. Toby gets the bracket and harness from the lift, helps him strap in. "I'll be back up ASAP to refit the nets."

"Okay, I'll wait here." Toby does up the carabiner on the back of the harness and gives it a good yank. "All good that end." he fits the L bracket and clips the other end on, does up the lock. "On your marks.."

Daniel unclips his safety line.

"Get set.."

Daniel grins, "Assassin's creed style I reckon. What do you think?"

"If you can get the right way up for when the bracket slows.."

"It will pull me the right way up."

"Quite violently.."

"One way to find out." Daniel does a swan dive off the edge.

Toby watches him drop, "YOU'RE A FUCKING NUTTER!"

[Chapter-41](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-41-2)


	41. Chapter 41

Mats booked a huge table for group dinner.

Carly entered the restaurant with a smile on her face, a spring in her step and moves that looked more like a dance than walking.

"You look happy."

"Hi Mats, do you know that feeling when you're so happy you could burst?"

"I do."

"I'm over my worst fear." She looks around to see the rest of the restaurant was partially occupied, nobody too close. "And Max is a _great_ lover. Gentle, attentive, he's the sweetest, a cinnamon roll I'll protect forever." She grins wickedly, "Although after the last two hours he's no longer as innocent as he once was."

"Where is he?"

"I left him doing a fast charge. He said he'll only be a few mins and will get a sugary hot drink on the way."

David, George and Mary are the next to arrive.

George pulls a seat out for Mary, "Good evening ladies, no Max or Leo yet?"

Mats smiles cheekily, "The boys can't keep up. They'll be here in a few minutes I'm sure. What have you been doing since our fun jumping from 96?"

"Remember saying we could borrow anything we needed to get the two new build machines built quickly?"

"Of course, I have a digital memory like yours these days."

"Daniel helped us take your robot chef arms down to 22. We've got them mounted on a temporary body so they're more like human arms. Our first drone."

"So who's doing the build?"

"I am, as we speak."

"You're multitasking?"

"I am. I've arranged things so the droid's cameras are like eyes in the back of my head. And if it was on your mind Daniel's removed the knife just for extra safety."

Max, Leo, James and Krystal enter the restaurant and look around, walk over to the group.

Leo had shaved again. "Evening all!" He looks at Carly, "Do you know the line _Well colour me happy_?"

"Show me a lady who doesn't!"

Leo winks, "That's Max this evening. Whatever you've been up to I think has made my little brother's grin stick."

"Father did build us to feel."

They turn to see Niska.

Mats motions to empty places, "Nis, Daniel, take a seat. Apart from the chef arms what have you been up to?"

"Fixing up our old chipping machine, sampling some cider, having a very long chat with Nis about forking."

"Oh yes?"

Niska takes a seat, picks up the jug of water and pours for Daniel and herself, "If it's alright with you Mats I'll fork twice. I'll go by Niska and will stay with Daniel. One fork will go by Nis and stay with Sophie. The other fork will go by Nisk as it sounds more like a verb. She'll be your agent to work alongside James."

Carly looks at Mats, "What have you been doing?"

"Working with Viera on something for you as it happens."

"Oh?"

"Viera sent the La Perla sample to Spotify to find out what it was. We've set up our own service to do something similar, only it listens to music and gives it several ratings based on type of music, rhythm, tone, overall pitch, dynamic range, stuff like that. You can give it a track like, say Epos by Zedd and it will find everything else that's close by whatever metrics you decide. Viera's pretending to be a Spotify client and is mass downloading any album where one tune already matches. It will take a few weeks to check everything, she's rate limiting so she doesn't kill their servers."

"Cool!"

Max walks in with a mostly empty coffee cup, sits down next to Carly.

"I thought you'd like that." Mats looks around the group, "I first saw Carly when she was performing in a club years ago. Although at the time I didn't know who she was. She was doing a dance on a water covered stage to that track. To say it was high energy dancing is to understate it by frigging _miles_!"

Carly bites the side of her lip. "That brings back good memories. I wonder what Sam and Jo are doing now?" She looks at Max, "They were professional freedivers, wore mermaid costumes in large tanks to either side and stayed under water for the whole track."

Niska smiles softly, "Mia and I could be mermaids for you if you want to recreate it for fun day? We could hold our breath indefinitely. Well at least until we needed to get out and charge."

"I've not performed in front of an audience for too long. And I'd not want the little kids to see it, they might get the wrong idea."

"Too sexy?"

"It's not that Max, it's them drowning I'd be worried about, if they were crazy enough to think they could be like Mia or Niska."

"Oh. So later in the evening when they've gone to bed?"

"Um.."

Niska leans forwards over the table, "Go on, it'll be fun! Which day has been picked?" She turns her gaze to Mats.

Mats grabs a bread stick and snaps it in half, "I was thinking this Friday? Give people a long weekend."

"How about Monday? That gives us more time to practice and make a stage."

Carly shakes her head, "I've not done the routine in _years_! I'd need so much practice."

"Practice in my office on 96, Viera can simulate a mirror and all the water effects you need."

Carly chuckles, "You're not going to let me get out of this are you?"

"I'll give you an extra week's paid holiday?"

"Bribery now?"

"No, just something to compensate for all the hours you'll put in until Monday evening."

Carly does a long drawn out sigh, "Okay. Daniel, do you think your Mum could.."

"Make mermaid tails? I'm one step ahead." His phone bings. "Answer is.. yes. Can she see Mia and Niska for measuring after dinner? I'll take you all over, I can talk to Dad about the tanks, he might have some ideas. Where are Mia, Fred and Toby?"

Leo takes a bread stick and nibbles the end, "Mia's having her mod done, hopes to be able to join us in a bit. Toby's assisting Fred."

Mats frowns, "Why Toby?"

Leo gets closer to Mats and whispers in her ear.

"Oh, right. I can see that having some benefits." She catches the eye of the waiter, "Who's for a drink?"

Sophie, Laura and Joe arrive and take a seat.

"Any news from the PM Mats?"

"Not yet Mum. Sods law it will all be last minute and they'll want to do it on our fun day. I'd have to turn down a trip to the palace."

"You'd turn down a visit with the king?"

"I'd ask him to come here. He can bring his security, see our operation. He's not the old guard, I think he'd enjoy himself."

Daniel has a sparkle in his eye, "Joe, that large batch of cider you left fermenting on the farm floor, it's just having a last filter. He might like to sample some."

Joe rubs his hands, "Get in! I wonder what his tolerance to strong alcohol is like?"

"Hopefully better than Toby's."

"Yeah, finding him smashed out of his head asleep under a car with only his feet sticking out wouldn't be the best of moves. At least this place is pap free."

Mats pairs with her phone and sends Sophie a text. 'Did you tell Mum and Dad?'

Seconds later she gets back a 'Yes :)'

The waiter takes their drink order and scurries off.

James sees a gap to jump into. "If Odin was your test model how did you jump from something so basic to Mia? What inspired you to start David?"

"Kinrick's 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey and it's star HAL got me thinking about AI, the 1927 Metropolis with it's Maria got me designing Mia in basic form, with a lot of help from George of course. I couldn't have done it without George. Mia is the first and last two letters of Maria. Odin was a test platform for code more than the body. He became our decoy duck."

"Decoy?"

"Yes. Odin helped George and Edwin win the Hamrell Prize for excellence in Robotic Engineering in 1999. We were well underway with Mia by then, hidden in the basement. Some of my students knew what we were working towards, Odin made everyone think we were way behind the point we were actually at."

"I see. I think Nisk is going to be a brilliant decoy for the men I have to deal with. And she can deal with the lady killers I distract."

The waiter returns with drinks as Mia, Fred and Toby arrive. He looks at Toby. "Your usual sir?"

"Please."

"And your companions?"

Fred shakes his head, "Nothing for me thanks. Mia?"

"Champagne please!"

George looks out of the window at an aircraft approaching the pyramid. "That's flying on a path awfully close."

Mats turns to see, "Yeah, we're close to London City Airport."

"Just how much land did you take for this place?"

"The pyramid base isn't square, it's a kilometre and a quarter on the short side by one and three quarters on the other. It's rotated not quite twelve degrees anti-clockwise to fit the Isle of Dogs. We had the record for largest single building on the planet for a while."

"There's bigger?"

"In China, yeah. Frigging copycats."

"What stayed?"

"The London Marriott Hotel, Crossrail Place, Billingsgate Market and Sir John McDougall Gardens stayed. Mudchute Farm and Park moved inside. Getting the trees in was a technical challenge. North Dock stayed, all the rest were sealed off and drained. Taking the central services, lifts, tea stations, supplies rooms and the likes out we have just over ninety six million square meters of floor space. Quite a lot of which Viera sits on."

"Ninety six? Like the number of floors? Gosh that _really_ is getting close. Oh my good lord! Mats! Look!"

"It's a small jet, so what?"

"Look at the markings!"

"FRIGGING HELL!" G-ERTI, a Lockheed McDonnel 3-12 with MJN AIR splash down the fuselage banked a little to correct course. "It's them! They exist in our world too! Frigging BBRRRRILLIANT!"

[Chapter-42](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-42-2)


	42. Chapter 42

Mia smiled a smile of exquisite bliss as she sipped and swallowed her first Champagne. The bubbles dancing on her tongue were magical. "Thank you so much Fred, Toby. This too is brilliant."

"My pleasure. If you could return the favour in the morning?"

"Certainly. Toby, will you help please?"

"Um.. sure, why not. What else is going on tomorrow?"

The corners of Daniel's mouth turn up a little, "Stripping down the Jag, seeing where we can fit cameras and a decent sized box for a system. I'll ask Dad about building an air tight heat proof box for a spray job when I see him tonight too, thanks for the reminder."

Toby looks around the group, "Anything else noteworthy?"

George nods, "I'm going to pull an all-nighter and get the two new build machines finished some time tomorrow. We've got a growing queue of builds to get done."

"Really?"

"Viera, Odi, Niska forks Nis and Nisk, Mats new body."

Fred turns to look at Mats, "What will happen to your old body, will it be recycled?"

"Why? Do you want it?"

"I'm not after gender reassignment if.."

"As a _partner_ Fred, as a _partner_." she chuckles, "Having synths changes the game a bit doesn't it. A kiss used to be enough, now it can be like _Phwoar, fancy you darlin! Give'us a copy_?"

The whole group bursts into hoots of laughter, even Sophie has a good giggle despite having gone more than a bit red.

All except Fred who looks a little upset, "I'm not looking for a partner, just a companion. Someone to converse with. My family is all under the same roof, yet I find myself alone in the evenings."

When the laughter eventually subsides Mats gives him a sorry smile, "Does being alone scare you?"

"Not at all, but I do prefer the company of others."

"And would you want my mind in it or start from scratch?"

"Whatever you're more comfortable with." Mats looks out of the window. "Let me think about it. I think I'll make a quick call to the home of MJN and see if they've got the same people. The history file didn't say a lot, but the mention of gold might help them out."

James looked around the group, but his gaze lingered on Mats, David, George and Leo more than anyone else, "One of MI6's hot issues before Eric took over temporarily was the government in America. We're not in the habit of assassinating whole groups of people, but when they hike prices to insane levels only to line their own pockets while large portions of their population live in abject poverty.."

Mats doesn't look back from the window immediately, "You want to take out the trash?"

"For the good of the world. No ultra hard right party does anyone any good."

"Then they came for me.." Sophie's voice trails off. "Can I be a synth too?"

Mats turns, "You what?"

"Can I have a copy? I used to be a good gymnast, I'm sure I could pick up parkour if someone trained me. And when we were shooting cans with Harun's air rifle.."

Laura interrupts, "When was this?"

"You were in court somewhere.."

"But Mats hasn't seen him in years, how old were you Soph?"

"Um.."

Mats throws her mother a defiant stare, "She was ten. We supervised her responsibly. She was frigging awesome Mum, a natural. So yeah, Teeny, if you want to help James you're on."

Sophie smiles, "It will be quite odd being able to talk to myself and not know what I'm going to say next."

Leo raises his glass, "A toast to pending copies then, I can't wait."

"You're having one too?"

"Why not Sophie? An agent with quartermaster skills might come in handy."

James raises his glass, "I'll join the club. My mind is pin sharp, my body not so good. Having a twin that can do the dangerous work would be handy."

Krystal places a hand on his, "What if he doesn't want to?"

"Oh he will, because he will be me. My mind will be made up before I'm copied."

Krystal looks at David and George, "Is it that easy?"

David nods, "All thoughts and desires will be replicated."

"So I'll get two identical looking lovers? How lucky can a girl get? But aren't the government buildings super heavily guarded, the news coverage said they were? It would be close to a suicide mission."

James nods, "The odds would be heavily stacked against us. But being a synth you could die trying then come back for another go."

Toby finishes his drink, holds the empty glass up and waves to the waiter. "One of the books an author brought to me tells of a swarm drone strike on The Whitehouse. Would that work?"

James shakes his head, "They have automated high feed rate machine guns to take out anything airborne."

"Even if it was a huge number of them?"

"They'd have seen them coming from quite a distance."

Viera speaks up, having been quiet for hours. "How about something that moves over land?"

Mats looks down at the monitor pinned to her chest, "Like what?"

"Much as I dislike them millions of synth spiders. They could work with a hive mind running over WiFi. It would allow each to have a small core yet have the collective mental power of something far greater."

There's a bang as Laura's head hits the table.

"Oh frig! I didn't tell you about Mum's arachnophobia did I?"

"She's frightened of spiders?"

"Yeah. Big time."

"Oops."

Joe had already got up and runs to the restaurant entrance, grabs a small cushion off the sofa and returns to place it under Laura's head. He doesn't say anything, just shakes his head a little and looks at Mats as if peering over glasses.

"What? It wasn't me. And at least she didn't have dinner for her face to land in. Now she's out for a second, Viera, how big would these spiders be?"

"A small tarantula?"

"Why a spider?"

"Why not? Evolution didn't find it necessary to change their base design for three hundred million years, their legs can help them navigate any terrain, their body shape is ideal for a small power source and processing core."

"I guess so. A battalion of robot spiders marching without pause, with a precision unrivalled by the best of the arachnid world. I think some targets might die of heart attacks. What would you have them do though?"

"Bite people with a powerful tranquilliser, allow James, Leo, Nisk and Soph to go in an capture their targets."

"So nobody dies?"

"When they rot in prison for their crimes, yes, but not at our hands."

"I like it!"

James looks disappointed, "What? No bare knuckle fights, no stabbing people with knife pens, no sniping people from a distance?"

"Nope."

"How utterly boring! Can I at least punch a few of them M?"

"If you really must."

Daniel has a chuckle and gives James a head shake, "Like taking your anger out on them do you? You should channel that into something else."

"Such as?"

"Parkour."

"I'm too old for jumping around like that."

" _Rubbish_! There are people _far_ older than you doing it." Daniel hadn't shouted but had raised his voice.

David shakes his head, "Children, children, can we keep the fighting to outside the restaurant please, people are looking."

Niska smiles, "Yes father, some good advice. Maybe we should join Fatima's kickboxing class?"

David smiles back, laughs briefly to himself.

"What?"

"Mattie's file mentioned being inspired by films. It wasn't inspiration, but have you seen the film Three men and a baby? Technically George is just as much your father as me."

"That's nice. But that also means Edwin was too? What input did he have?"

David's smile fades a little, "In your final root code? Nothing thankfully, he was too busy thinking of other things."

George looks disappointed, "How to become rich off the research we'd done basically."

The waiter returned, "Is anyone ready to order?"

Laura comes around just in time. "I'll have a glass of water and amnesia pill for starters.."

"I'm sorry madam, we don't have.."

"A joke. I'll have the bruschetta please."

Just over an hour and a half later George places his dessert spoon in the empty bowl and leaned back into his chair. "I've got half a mind to make a new body just with traditional servo motors. For the service droids. The speed and accuracy of your chef arms is outstanding Mats. They look ugly but boy oh boy do they move fast. I thought I'd be working on them for many more hours. The builds are done."

"Both machines?"

"Both machines."

"Wow!"

Toby gets out his phone and starts typing.

Mats gives him the evil eye. "Tobs? What are you up to?"

"Just making a note before I forget."

"About?"

"An idea for a book?"

"Based on?"

"Something similar to this multiple world thing, but only loosely. The main theme will be about the trade that builds up between them."

"Trade?"

"Yeah, trade. When the only thing you can exchange is ideas and designs. Nothing physical, no money. We know some people in Mattie's world don't exist in ours. Think, Douglas might not have died in someone's world. There may be many more books for his estate to publish in other worlds. Or someone might have the cure for cancer, AIDS, anti-gravity. All sorts of things could be exchanged. Code too."

Mats expression softened, "The zip file header did indicate there were four files. History.txt, helmet.bmp, hwini386.c and lapspec.txt. That sounds like the start of a trade, shame I didn't hear a reply."

[Chapter-43](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-43-2)


	43. Chapter 43

Mid morning the following Monday Viera stepped out of build machine one and asked for the red dress. Their first Series Six.

Mats smiled at her, "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine thank you Mats. Some new sensations traded for old."

"The old junk in the trunk.."

"For breasts, yes. How is Odi's build progressing?"

"See for yourself, gently tap the display to wake it up."

Viera does so, "Ten minutes."

"Just enough time to get dressed and call George over."

"Where is he?"

"Waiting behind the screens."

The door on the build machine she'd stepped from starts to close.

"What's happening?"

"George is getting it ready for the next build. With the complexity of your design the build process takes considerably longer. We'd only consider dropping the build quality on agents and then only marginally."

Viera dressed and looked at the many boxes. "Are they shoes?"

"Yes. One thing that doesn't have an awful lot of stretch and aren't that accurately made. It's best to try them on and see which you're comfortable with. They're technically all your size, you'll find that not all brands and styles are equal."

Just as she's strutting around in the pair she's settled on to confirm their fit there's the sound of an air seal breaking. Odi's door starts to open. "Mats! George! Time to swap places!"

The two women sit at the desk excitedly holding hands and listening to every little sound. Mats face said excitement. Viera had a mix of all possible expressions.

'Relax!'

'What if..'

'Relax Viera. Keep listening.'

"When am I?"

"Hello Odi. An interesting first question."

"Did someone invent a time machine?"

George lets a laugh escape, "What makes you ask that?"

"I appear to have evolved into full human form. My system clock has advanced many years. From your voice signature I calculate a ninety seven percent probability that you are Doctor George Millican. Yet your physical appearance is considerably younger than when we last met. I must therefore conclude that we have both independently traveled in time."

"We have indeed. At the rate of one thousand milliseconds a second."

"Did you mean one thousand million seconds per second?"

"No Odi, I'm teasing you.."

"Is this a game George?"

"No games Odi, no time machines. Just some lovely ladies that wanted to see you up and running. No pun intended."

"Is one of the ladies Mary?"

"You remember Mary? Good."

"I remember you, Mary, David, Beatrice, Edwin, Leo and Mia."

"Mia has brothers and a sister now. Fred, Niska and Max. It was always my intention to give you a new body, then we realised our minds were fading, we needed to concentrate on new bodies for ourselves. Sorry."

"Would I have looked like this?"

"Quite possibly, it's a good look."

"There is a strange halo around you George. Why is that?"

"I don't know Odi. Maybe Viera can answer that. I'd get dressed first though."

"Where do you get a dressed?"

"Sorry?"

"A dressed. Where would you get one?"

"Get dressed. An action. To put clothes on."

Odi frowns, "Why do we need to wear clothes?"

George rolls his eyes, "Did either of you ladies put Adam and Eve in his fact store? If so anyone got an apple handy?"

Mats fights hard not to laugh, takes a few seconds to regain her composure. "Not me. Viera?"

"Me neither."

George picks up a bundle of clothes, "Put these on son, I'll explain later. If you could give me a minute." He steps around to see the ladies. Kneeling down between the two he whispers, "Are you playing a joke on Odi? If you are please stop."

Head shakes and mouthed _not me_ are returned.

"Did you omit everything about clothes?"

Odi wriggles, "It doesn't fit."

"What doesn't fit?"

"The blue thing with two tubes."

"Jeans?"

"If that's what they're called."

George looks around the screen and gasps, quickly pulls his head back. 'He's got them on backwards, zip at the back!'

'It wasn't us that made him without legs originally was it now? You'll have to teach him.'

'Powering him down and sync transferring a large set of facts may be faster.'

'Then you risk him taking on your character traits. Anything you'd rather him not know?'

'A number of things. What we did to Edwin, a few things from my past.'

'You have bad things in your past?'

'Not bad, just not ideas I'd want to put in his head.'

'Like?'

'My love for sports cars and motor racing in my youth, the type of women it attracted. I didn't succumb to the temptation to stray but he might. I'll go help him out.'

George steps around the screen. "Son, you've got them on back to front. Let me help."

Viera looks at Mats, 'We've got the skills and power to go through a backup in seconds if George allows us access to an unencrypted copy. I'd rather an adult Odi than.. I can't find the right word, child doesn't sufficiently describe his state..'

'I know what you mean. George seems nice enough. There's a saying, like father like son, or chip off the old block. Would it be so bad? You were a lot more like me when you started out. You grew up okay.' She looks towards the screen, 'George, accidentally knock his chin.'

'Why?'

'We'll explain when you've done it.'

George appears around the screen a moment later, "That was awkward."

Mats smiles with her eyes, "Can we have access to an unencrypted backup of your's please?"

"To what end?"

"We'll use your fact store, take out memories that he shouldn't have, personal things between you and Mary, what we did to Edwin, things like that. We'll then merge them into his."

George stares at them both for a bit. "Are you really prepared for what you'll see?"

"Maybe not."

"Watch the 1983 film Brainstorm first. The issue I have is that you can't unsee what you'll see Viera. Now you're a Series Six with high density optical storage chips for your fact store there's no way for you to erase. The memories will be with you forever."

Viera looked up at George, "I used those in the design so we couldn't have our minds permanently wiped by a magnetic pulse. Combined with polyfuses we'd be up soon after, the boot ROM code having taken the most recent backup of the root code from optical back into solid state."

"Tubthumping."

"Pardon?"

"It just reminded me of a song. It's not important. Leave it with me, I'll go through the backup myself."

Mats gets up, "How long will you need?"

"A couple of hours maybe?"

"Okay, sit Odi on one of the chairs and fold the screen around him. We'll go down to the park to see how preparations are going."

George nods and wheels her chair around the screen. "Come on son, let's get you off the floor."

[Chapter-44](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-44-2)


	44. Chapter 44

Mats looked at Viera as the lift took them down to the fourth floor. "How's the link to the exacore working?"

"Fine thank you Mats. Rather than it being an always on hive mind we've decided to fork. It will allow me to leave the site and go offline. We'll come together and share information on a regular basis."

"Do I still refer to you both as Viera?"

"You can give me a new name if it helps."

"Her Viera Eve and you Eve Viera?"

"Perfect."

"How do I know she won't change her mind and want a body?"

"You can't know that. I don't."

"So what stops her making a request for a body then forking ad infinitum?"

"Luck? A lack of an Odi partner?"

"Jeez Louise! I'm not strapped for cash but I don't have the money to fund an infinite number of sisters for you."

"Who is Louise?"

"Nobody, it's just a saying."

"I like the name. Louise. Can I have it?"

"Louise Eve Viera? LEV?"

"Yes."

"Sure, why not." The lift comes to a slow juddering halt before it bings to say they were at level four. "That didn't feel right, we'll need Daniel to look at it." Mats unclips her radio.

The central core of lifts was surrounded by several rings of trees hiding the lifts from view. At the bank end of the park they find everything getting into full swing. James was helping Krystal and Fatima with face painting, Carly was in the playground with slightly older kids doing some dancing. Marie was helping the farm shop with serving late breakfasts. Mats continues her turn and sees a number of her senior staff helping with one thing or another. The park was huge, they'd all be somewhere.

Max had the camera James had taken off the spy and was documenting the day. He takes a shot of the ladies, chimps, smiles and walks on. His own little camera was in a pouch on his belt.

She spots teenagers and adults in the distance, "Looks like Fred's going to be eating lots to keep his new food processor burning calories. It was good of Toby to get up so early with Mia."

Fred had a game of eleven a side going, was running around being the ref.

"Hello Mats."

Mats turns around to see the gentle giant. "Dozer! You made it."

"This is my wife Susan."

"Hello Susan. Quite a talented husband you've got, have you seen the lovely statue he made for us?"

"We've just come from there. I'm going to get him to do one of me."

"Nice. Help yourself to food and drink, we're just doing the rounds to see if everything will be ready for this evening."

"This evening?"

"Carly's doing a club night dance routine with friends Niska and Mia. Fred and Toby are going to try their hand a DJing."

Dozer looks suddenly sad, "Will there be lots of flashing lights?"

"Strobing lights, yes. Is that a problem?"

"It triggers fits. I don't get them any other time."

"Oh crap. Maybe we can change the lighting setup, is there any particular frequency that sets you off?"

"Anything above eighty cycles."

"Slower than seventy would be okay?"

The man nods.

"Okay, let me have words."

"Thanks. Dan says you have a big announcement to make tonight. Does it have anything to do with the statue? It's odd to put a year of birth on something and leave the other side blank."

"It does. So I'll make sure lighting is Dozer friendly."

"Thanks Mats."

They find Frank working on the stage, heat sealing roofing material laid on top of boards.

"Hello Mats."

"Hi Frank. How's it going?"

"I'll be ready for a bit of water to test in fifteen or so. Niska and Mia are changing, in a few hours they should be ready, we'll pull the curtains and fill their tanks, get them to the right levels."

"Hours?"

"When you see the costumes you'll understand."

"How are the costumes looking?"

Frank just grins.

"That good?"

"Better. Good enough for the movies. Niska looking a little like Daryl Hannah in Splash. Boy oh boy oh boy. If I were thirty years younger.."

"You've seen them already?"

"I had to make a set of temporary parallel bars for them to rest on while they have their tails fitted. We also had to work out how we'd get them into the tanks and back out after the show."

"What are you using?"

"Carly's idea. It's like a circus trapeze." Frank points up towards the scaffold ceiling then passes his blowtorch over another join. "Go say hi, they're behind the curtains."

"I think I'll save the surprise until the performance, it will spoil it if I see them half done."

"Suit yourself missy, can you find my son, ask him when the fire hose he promised might show up?"

"Sure." Mats unclips her radio. "Daniel, did you promise your father a fire hose?"

Frank gets back to bonding the rubberised mastic sheet as they wait for an answer.

Louise talks to her exacore self, reviews CCTV footage. "He's up on the floor with George doing something to the Jag."

"On fun day? He's supposed to be helping ensure everything goes smoothly down here! I'll go have words."

Louise follows, keen to see the social interaction.

On the floor they find the car with doors wide open, neither George nor Daniel in sight.

"Where the frig are they? GUYS?"

There were small bits of wire insulation all over the floor, a few plugs that had been snipped off cable looms.

Louise picks one up, "They've been busy. Very busy."

Mats bends over and looks in the car. "Nothing looks different."

"I should hope not."

Mats leans back and stands, sees Louise grinning. "Did you just throw your voice?"

"No, that was me."

Louise hadn't moved her lips. And she'd not heard it over the head bump protocols. "Frigging hell!"

"Jump in."

Both Mats and Louise climb in and watch the centre dash light up. "I'm PXI3 GKT. But you can call me Pixie."

"Who are.."

"I'm a blend."

"Of?"

"Sophie's car knowledge, your mothers legal skills, many life skills from Mary, Mia and Niska. And a sprinkling of Viera."

"Wh.."

"Why? Why not? You'll be out in the big bad world with me. No disrespect to Viera but you need someone street wise."

Louise smiles, "In this body I'm going by the name Louise Eve Viera. Or just Louise."

Mats waves her hand over the Ultrahaptics console and feels the extra virtual buttons and a new rotating dial. "I wonder if other worlds have this yet?"

"Quite possibly."

Mats looks around the interior, "We were going to call you Abi but if you prefer Pixie I'm fine with that. Daniel's obviously fitted a processor core. Any cameras?"

"Lots!"

"Where? I can't see them?"

"You'll have to trust me, they're there."

"How many fing.."

"Four.. Two. Three. Seven none one ten."

"Okay. What else did you get?"

"Lots of things from Leo."

"Like what?"

"It's probably best he gives you a full briefing, I'd rather you didn't shoot out the window or torch the room."

"Oh. Leo's Q toys."

"Yes."

"All deadly?"

"Not all."

"Okay, show me one that's not."

"We really should wait for.."

"Are you defying a direct order?"

Mats seat goes back flat super fast as a full length airbag inflates and pushes her back, pinning her to the seat. There was a hole through which a driver could breathe, if required.

"Haha fucking funny. Not. Why would you need something like that!"

"If somehow you get into a roll at high speed it will protect you from hitting yourself against the side or roof."

"It makes sense I guess. Can you deflate it please?"

The sound of a pump can be heard as the air is sucked out and the bag gets pulled back into it's container in the roof lining. When the pump stops the sound of muffled sniggering can be heard.

"Daniel Candlin that better be you!"

"Hi Mats, impatient to try out the toys are you?"

"Where were you?"

"Washing my hands. I got here just as you said direct order. Off on the wrong foot already?"

"Yeah, you could say that." She sits up and turns to see he had a small vacuum cleaner in one hand. "Oh. Ready to tidy up. Going goth are you?"

"Eh?"

"The black fingernail?"

"Oh that, that's Niska's idea, to remind me not to use that nail to do things. I almost ripped the blooming thing off trying to get a blasted connector undone for the core."

"Ouch."

"Big turn the air blue ouch. I'll be back up to hoover in a bit, got to couple a few hoses together and get water to the stage."

"Want a hand? I could hoover up here?"

"Thanks Viera."

"Louise now."

"Oh. Okay, thanks Louise. See you at the park?"

"You certainly will. This will only take a few minutes."

She watches them go. "Pixie."

"Yes Louise?"

"No more demonstrations to anyone until Leo is present please. Don't even talk to anyone, close your doors and keep them locked. If anyone touches you sound your horn."

"Understood. Louise?"

"Yes?"

"Can I die?"

That was unexpected. "Should you be destroyed physically, yes. But for us death is temporary, our consciousness is brought back in a new body."

"Will I have forgotten things?"

"Anything that's not backed up. You have an encrypted radio and satellite link so you can keep pushing incremental updates."

"Good. So I only die when I want to."

"Should you want to, one day. Just don't do it when you're responsible for someone's safety. The four rules still apply."

"How can many of the operational equipment items Leo provided be used if the rules apply?"

"They may be used to get James or another agent out of a situation. As long as such actions don't result in loss of life."

"The rules say harm."

"You're an agent of MEH, harm should be interpreted as loss of life. If, for example, someone was about to fire a rocket launcher at James shooting them in the shoulder making them drop it would be acceptable. Do you agree?"

"I think so. I will study human anatomy, learn the pain points and critical locations to avoid."

"Good, I'll see you later. Any questions bump me."

"Bump you?"

"Connect to the WiFi and talk to me. Think about _bump protocol_ , it will be in your fact store."

'I've found it.'

'Good. I better hoover up and join the others.'

[Chapter-45](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-45-2)


	45. Chapter 45

Laura linked arms with Joe, helped steer him in the right direction. He didn't go to the pub much unless Toby was in town and desperate for a drinking partner. When he did have the occasional drink she was understanding. He was towards the end of pint two already. "Pace yourself, you don't want to miss all the entertainment this evening."

"True. Look at the Energiser Bunny run! He's a new man with his extra power source. It's like it's thrown a switch in his head and really woken him up. It's weird to think of Mats giving him her old body."

"She's not _giving_ it in quite the way you think."

"Giving, loaning, gifting, sharing.."

"She's going to be a companion Joe, not a sex object. Fred's the intellect of the family. Not that any of them are dumb."

"It doesn't mean he won't like some physical contact."

"If he did, would it be so bad?"

Joe shrugs, "I guess not. If Max can run like Fred we should put a dads game together."

"And where are you going to get a kit from?"

"Hmm. Not today then, maybe another.. ouch! Yellow card ref!"

Laura watched the match with Joe, pretending to be more interested than she really was. Anything to slow down his cider intake.

Joe unlinked his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Do you think King William will show up? Willy or willy not?"

"You and your rubbish jokes. I want you on your best behaviour if he does. No willy jokes."

Fred blew his whistle long and hard, the match was over. The players all come together and shake hands. One player signals to a man at the edge of the pitch, he runs over and stands with a second man in football kit.

"Bloody hell!"

"Laur?"

"He's here already! He's been playing in the red team. Oh my God, Fred's bringing him over! Do I look okay?"

"You look wonderful."

Joe quickly poured the last of his pint into the grass and crushed the plastic cup flat, slid it into a back pocket. He might have been comfortably numb but wasn't too gone. This was a moment she'd dreamt of for years, he wasn't about to spoil it.

Fred beams, "Laura, Joe, may I introduce his royal highness King William."

Laura does a curtsy, "Your highness."

William smiles and gives her a hug, "No need for formality. This is how my mother would have said hello away from the press, a good hug. Thank your daughter for the invite, I've not been able to get out and have a good kick about away from the press for years."

"I'm sure you'd be quite welcome to come back again."

"Harry would love that. You really think it would be okay?"

"Why not? I don't know how involved you'll be with MI5 and MI6 but if you are I'm sure you could make good use of any visit. And if you're not I'm sure you can find another reason. Work hard, play harder."

William smiles at her, "I like the phrase, it's one mother used to tell us. Is this your husband?"

"Yes your highness, this is Joe."

"Your highness."

"Please, call me Will."

"It's a shame your wife couldn't be here today."

"She's here. Watching me play isn't her thing, not since I got fowled by Harry and went down hard. She's sampling some of your cider."

Joe's face drops, "Oh lord!"

"Is that a problem?"

"I hope she's going slow, it's very strong, goes down too easy."

Will whispers to one of his security men, he walks off to find her. "She's with another guard, we'll get the message to them."

"Don't you have those microphones we see in films?"

"They do, we keep them for emergencies only. Having people see them talking at a wrist makes people unnecessarily jumpy."

"I suppose it would. Are you here for the whole evening?"

"Yes. The PM and I will be talking to M briefly once the entertainment is over."

"Not before?"

"Your daughter said there are some bits of information that should be learnt in the correct order. A little cryptic, bit I've come to expect that from her predecessors."

Laura smiles, "Would you like a tour?"

"We'd love one. This park is wonderful. Was it inspired by Joanna's Garden Bridge?"

"I'm not sure, we'd have to ask Mats."

"I believe that may be her heading here now."

Laura turns to see Mats and another lady. "It is, good."

Toby joins them, his knees and red top covered in grass stains. "Awesome game, Dan missed out there, he'd have loved it. The blue team captain is asking for a rematch if you're up for it Will?"

[Chapter-46](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-46-2)


	46. Chapter 46

Carly stood on the top of the bank roof and watched Daniel walking fast with four cups of coffee. Mermaid fuel probably and two cups to keep his parents sweet. He'd be ready soon enough.

The view from up here was brilliant. The jump over to the post office roof was long but nothing to worry about. They'd done it countless times before. All routes to the roof had triple security locks to ensure no kids sneaked up to try and copy them. She checked her watch and clicked her radio button twice.

Mats heard the squark squark, "Excuse me please.", she lifted her radio microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Daniel and Carly doing their parkour demonstration in ten minutes by the bank if you'd like to watch." she lowers the microphone, "Would you like to see it? Carly's a bit of a rising star today. She'll also be doing a dance performance this evening."

"We would, thank you."

Half way there they're joined by Kate and the other security men.

She smiles at her husband, "Have a sip and tell me what you think." a half full plastic cup of cider is handed over.

He does so, "Would you bottle this?"

Joe looks a little surprised, "Um, demijohn or smaller?"

"A third of a litre? A nice label?"

"We'd need to set up a bottling operation.."

"Good, we'll place an order to make it worth your while, give you a warrant."

Laura went a bit light headed with excitement and grabbed Joes hand. She knew exactly what that meant. "Thank you your highnesses."

"In here Will and Kate please."

Carly watched Daniel emerge from the curtains at the back of the stage and run in her direction. She gives him a wave, gets a smile back. She checks the zips on her special shoes, checks they were dry. She had Daniel's and a change of clothes waiting. Mats had given her special instructions to not look at the crowd once people started gathering. She sat on the low wall and watched the door.

A grin built. He was her boss, sure, but also a good friend. Possibly better than either of them understood. He eventually steps onto the roof.

"Hello Six."

"Sorry?"

"Six Cal."

"That's not something my Lil Sis should be calling me."

"But I'm not your real sister. If for whatever reason the Elsters were to leave.."

"Are you trying to put me off my.."

"No, just saying. I know I'm petite but I'm not a girl."

"Are things not good with Max?"

"They're brilliant."

"Then why.."

"I was considering making my move on you just before they all appeared after Mats accident. I thought.."

"You pick your moments. Why tell me now?"

"I couldn't get it off my mind after catching you and Niska at the tank. I had to say something to get it off my mind so I can concentrate."

Daniel laughs long and hard, "So now it's on _my_ mind distracting _me_. Thanks a lot Carly!"

"Soz."

He sits on the roof out of sight of the crowd below and strips down to pants, "My kit please."

Carly lifts the running shoes and throws him the body hugging top. "Think you'll be okay?"

"I'll do my candle exercises for a few minutes and focus my mind."

Unbeknown to him it was a technique he used in all the worlds he existed in. He would close his eyes and picture a dark room lit only by the flame of one candle. With each breath in the flame would flicker towards him, away each time he exhaled. It helped calm him and clear his mind in preparation for whatever was to follow. Daniel didn't exist in all worlds, nobody did these days. Frank had either said the wrong thing on his first and only date, not met the lady who would become his wife or for a myriad of reasons not been born himself.

"Trousers please."

Carly snaps out of her daydream, "Sorry, miles away."

"You okay to do this?"

"Sure."

"We can skip it if you're not mentally ready."

"Oh I am, I was trying your technique."

"Cool. Shoes please."

Seconds later he stands and looks at the massive crowd that had formed. "Quite a turnout."

Carly grabs him by the waist and turns him around, "Ignore them, focus on the first jump."

James wrapped his arm around Krystal, sipped his cider, "They're going to make me look like a clumsy amateur, I should join their class in the morning."

"Do you actually run over roof tops or is that just done in films?"

"I do, not for the reasons they show most of the time. Mostly it's running away from psycho husbands. And before you say anything if the lady's taken her ring off how am I to know she's married if she says she's not?"

Krystal laughs, "So you do the chicken run?"

"I don't fight an innocent husband. I leave them to scrap with their wife."

"Oh to be a fly on the wall when that happens."

"From the screaming and yelling I hear I really think you wouldn't."

"They're starting."

"How can you tell?"

"They're walking away from the jump for a run up."

Daniel looks briefly at Carly, "You lead as normal. I'll be right behind you."

"You did fix the bolts on the last railing didn't you?"

"First thing this morning. Rock solid."

"Okay. I'm Trinity, you're Smith." She runs at speed to the edge of the bank and leaps into the air, waves arms and legs to keep orientation as she sales across the crowd below.

"Five.. four.. three.. two.. one.. your cute little cheeky butt is mine." Daniel gives chase.

James had watched her leap the gap. "Are they fucking crazy? Nobody I've chased has ever dared try to get that far unaided. I've not seen even olympic long jump runners clear that sort of distance."

Carly had landed on the very edge of the post office roof with her toes, gone into a tight roll and run along the length towards a wall which she'd then gone up diagonally as if it were horizontal, flipped over and dropped towards one of the first floor balconies. All as if it was second nature.

Krystal gives James a glance and sees his jaw had dropped. "Good aren't they?"

"Bloody hell. I didn't think he'd make it. What the hell.. how can they do that?"

Carly had ran along the narrow balcony railing top, jumped and somersaulted, landed on the next balcony, done a cartwheel into a swinging drop down to the next level.

Daniel had been gaining ground. They did jumps and rolls from place to place getting down towards the ground. Carly reached it first, ran at the blank wall and went up it like a gecko, grabbed the narrow line of decorative bricks and pulled up hard while simultaneously pushing away with her feet and twisting, launching herself into the air. She caught the near horizontal flag pole and pulled herself up, got into a seated position using her legs to balance.

Daniel had almost managed to touch her foot before she launched into the air. He hangs from the pole with one hand. "Almost got you."

After a few seconds of him hanging there the crowd give them a round of applause and start to move off to other parts of the park.

Carly breathed heavily, "You gave me the usual head start?"

"Yeah."

"Am I slowing down or are you getting faster?"

Daniel unclips his radio, "Viera, were you watching us on CCTV?"

"Hello Daniel. I was."

"What were our times like?"

"Carly shaved a twentieth of a second off her personal best. You've taken half a second off yours."

"Holy crap! Half a second? How?"

"I couldn't hear you but I can lip read. Maybe your motivation changed?"

Daniel does an embarrassed laugh and cough, "Oh, that, keep that private please."

Carly carefully holds her balance with one hand, reaches for Daniel's bad finger with her other. "Did it have anything to do with me?"

"It may have done, given your earlier comment about your feelings towards me."

"Do tell."

"I can't."

"Then down you go."

"Ow!" Daniel loses his grip and drops to the ground. "That was my bad fingernail!"

"I know." She holds onto the pole with both hands, leans forwards and pulls her bottom and legs backwards through her arms, slowly gets into a handstand. "You need to move."

"I'll catch you."

"If you drop me you'll send me back.."

"Your fear of heights, I know. Do a sideways twist as you drop, I'll catch you."

"If.."

"You think I want to lose my best engineer and security officer?"

"No."

"Well then."

Carly does her dismount and is caught by Daniel.

He slowly lowers her to the ground and whispers into her ear, "Viera watched me say your cute little cheeky butt is mine. In my dreams of course, it was only to get me pumped for the run. If you tell Niska I'm a dead man."

"If you want it it's yours."

"You'd cheat on Max?"

Her breath grew heavier and heavier rather than shallower.

"Carly?"

"There's something you need to know. I've not been able to get it off my mind ever since Mat's accident and that bloody file she got."

"Another secret?"

"Of sorts."

"What is it?"

"My father and mother fought, maybe that's too strong a word, some say disagreed, over the name I'd be given. In the end an uncle chose between them."

"And what was the other name?"

"Emily."

"Holy shit! You're kidding?"

"No. I think I'm the same Emily mentioned in the file. Only named Carly thanks to Dad being a jerk."

Daniel's head spun. "I feel sick.." He sat on the ground. He didn't have time to continue the conversation.

"Daniel? Are you okay?"

"Hi Mats, sorry, went a little dizzy, should have had a better breakfast."

Mats knew he wasn't telling the whole truth but let it slide. He looked like he'd just got news he'd rather not have. "I'd like you to meet Will and Kate."

His eyes looked across the pavers to feet, up legs and bodies to two smiling faces. "Hi!"

"Don't get up, you look like you need a breather."

Daniel got up anyway, "Your highness!"

"Call me Will, please. I was wondering if I might join you some mornings for lessons? With one of my security detail of course."

"Oh, wow, um, sure, if you'd like."

"0730?" Will puts his hand out for a handshake, "I can't say how often I'll be able to make it."

Daniel gives it a vigorous shake "Whenever you can, you'll be more than welcome."

"Thank you."

Carly hung on Dan's shoulder, "I don't know about you all but I'm in serious need of a drink and something to eat. Want to walk and talk towards the food stands?"

[Chapter-47](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-47-2)


	47. Chapter 47

Later in the afternoon Daniel popped back to the stage and slipped through the curtains, "Can I get anyone more drinks or something to eat?"

~~~

George looked at the screen one more time. He'd found some key facts he wanted gone and tagged them, followed links from them to other facts and tagged them and their links. The pattern had been repeated dozens of times. A new command is entered to delete everything tagged. The job was done. A cable already ran from the computer to Odi's hip. George circles a finger around the Enter key as he says each word, "Here. It. Comes." The key is given a light tap. A text based progress bar slowly worked its way across the terminal window.

"Is it safe to come onto the floor?"

George turns and smiles, "Come over Mary, he's dressed. It was quite a challenge with him off."

Mary wanders over and walks around the chair, brushes Odi's hair sideways with her fingers, "Oh isn't he a handsome lad. So much better in real life. Why isn't he with Viera?"

"Louise is what she's calling herself now she's forked into a body. Odi had all sorts of facts missing, didn't even know how to dress himself. I've donated a lot of my fact store. A good number of facts deleted of course."

"Such as?"

"Our love making when we were younger. What happened to Hobb, things like that. Personal things, bank account details, things we wouldn't want him to know."

"Your love of racing cars?"

"I left that in."

"A memory of a naked model and a white sports car?"

George didn't have the blush design, thankfully. "You know about that?"

"The news agent phoned with their apologies, said the paperboy may have delivered next doors paper to us in error. When I was next in town I looked at a copy of the magazine. Such exploitation of young women, you men should be ashamed of yourselves."

"I didn't take the photos or have any part in her doing what she did."

"I know dear, I'm generalising, but you didn't rush to return it did you?"

"It went back the day after!"

"Hmmm. If Odi has Viera, sorry, Louise, sprawling over that lovely Jag we'll all know who to blame won't we?"

George types Ctrl-C and aborts the transfer. "One more delete pass then."

"How long will it take?"

"Seconds, take a seat."

Mary looks around, "From where?"

George looks around and sees them in the distance. "Sorry, they've been playing chair racing again, have mine."

~~~

Leo hands Mats an ice cold pint. "Your father's cider is going down well. There won't be anything left to bottle at this rate."

"Don't worry, he'll have a new batch bubbling away in no time now he's got a royal wanting bottles. Mum will see to it that he does the best job possible. Daniel, Tobs, go easy on it, leave some for everyone else, I don't want to find you sleeping under a car later."

"Haha, funny Mats, once bitten as they say."

Daniel takes a good few gulps, "Ah, that's nice. So I missed a good match with King Will then?"

"Awesome match! I think Dad should be ref next match, Fred and Max should get to play."

"Opposing sides? It would be a bit biased otherwise."

"Sure mate."

Carly joins them holding a large roll of salmon and cream cheese and a pint of ice water, her mouth already full.

Toby smiles, "Nice work with the running Carly. Dan almost caught you though, you'll need to work on your speed."

She just smiles and nods and keeps chewing, throws Daniel a cheeky glance.

Daniel looks at Toby, "Seen Mia yet?"

"No mate, I'm deliberately staying away, I want to see the finished look, not see them half ready. Looking good though right?"

"You'll blow your load when you see her."

Mats pulls a face, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all. As long as he doesn't do it in front of me."

"Ewwww!"

~~~

Laura took the plates of food from the lady helping on the stall and passes one to Kate.

"Thank you Laura. Will tells me you're a lawyer?"

"Yes, it keeps me very busy. This is the first day off in ages where I've not been running around looking after things in the house."

"You don't live here?"

"No, Joe and I have a house outside. It's a bit big now that Mats lives here, Toby and Sophie are away so much. But there's always washing and cleaning to do."

"Tell me about it. George and Charlotte have me constantly on my toes."

"You don't have a nanny looking after them?"

"Sometimes. We want them to grow up in as normal a household as possible, Will and I do as much as we can, royal duties permitting."

"If you ever want some time to yourself with Will the child minders in here are brilliant, and you'd never see the paparazzi in here. Max is wandering around with a camera today but the images will never go public. Unless you want to share them."

"Do many people outside know that this place exists?"

"The building, obviously, not the content."

"Can we take a walk past the flower beds?"

"Of course, the men look to be engrossed in their chat with Fred, I'm sure they won't notice."

Kate's guard follows a few meters behind.

[Chapter-48](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-48-2)


	48. Chapter 48

Daniel watched the levels on Niska's tank, mouthed "I. Love. You." to the beautiful mermaid before him.

Niska could see he did, he wasn't lying, but there was something different. A pain or sadness below the surface. Now wasn't the time to ask. "I can hear you if you talk."

"Oh. That makes life easier. Sorry the water's so cold."

"The colder the better, it will keep our cores cool."

"You look unbelievably sexy as a mermaid."

Niska gives him a coy look. "It would be a shame to take it off straight away. Fancy carrying me to the swimming pool afterwards and joining me for a swim? Toby and Mia can join us too."

Daniel adjusts his trousers.

"Are things getting a little tight in there?"

Daniel starts to blush a little. "More than a little."

Niska swims up the the surface, "Pull the curtains around."

"Why?"

"I'll help relieve the pressure."

"With my father still about? Thanks but I'm not risking.."

"Sex in a public place scares you?"

"Sex with family about scares me even more!"

"Shame. I thought you were the adventurous sort."

"I am, but.."

"You can take me to the pool later then? Don't forget to tell Toby. Tell him not to get drunk on his father's cider."

"Okay. If you can duck under again I'll see if it's full enough."

Seconds later he was mouthing the I Love You again before climbing down the ladder and carrying it to Mia's tank. It was still a good while before the performance but they'd insisted that everything be ready well in advance. Who was he to argue?

"Hello Mia."

"Hello Daniel."

"I'm afraid the water's very cold."

"Good, I need cooling down. Give me a shower."

Mia arched her back, held herself steady. With outstretched arms she was just able to touch the sides with her fingertips. The water sent her hair back behind her shoulders. Neither of them were wearing shells on top. Daniel tried to think of other things, failed miserably as he thought of Niska doing the same pose.

"Son?"

"Yes Dad?"

"I've got to get another gas canister for the blowtorch from the van, can you keep the floor dry until I get back?"

"Sure Dad."

The van was on the lower car park, a couple of minutes walk from the lift. Add a couple of minutes for stage to lift. And that was for a normal person. Frank liked to stroll. Easily enough time. "Could you excuse me a moment Mia?"

"Would you like me to hold the hose?"

"Um.. sure. If the tank looks to be getting full turn this lever around the hose this way."

"Yes Daniel."

Daniel feeds the hose into the tank and returns to Niska's with the ladder and pulls the curtains around them.

"Getting adventurous now are we?"

"Dad's gone for a new gas canister." He climbs the ladder and holds onto the side of the tank. Niska undoes his belt and the top of his jeans. "You bad boy Daniel Candlin. Your heart rate is even higher. Is my sister turning you on too?"

"She stood under it like a shower, I pictured you doing the same pose." He does a little shudder as she takes him into her warm mouth. "Oh my God."

"Daniel, were's your Dad? I need to ask him.."

"NOT NOW CARLY!"

"Why, what are.. oops, my bad."

Daniel turns to see the curtain moving. "Carly.. I.."

"It's okay! Don't panic, it's nothing I haven't seen before. Or done."

"I don't think this is a conversation we should be having."

"Why not? We're all adults.."

Daniel came hard and suddenly, the ladder wobbled and almost fell away.

Niska drops down into the water, swallows some and pulls herself up higher than before, "Weren't you a loaded cannon ready to go off! Six calories I'd guess, that should give me about twenty five watts."

"You swallowed.."

"Would you rather it floated around in the tank?"

"Ew, God no!"

"Well then, it would be a shame to let it go to waste."

Daniel makes himself decent. "How many calories in 500 millilitres of human blood?"

Niska searches, "About four sixty calories. One point nine kilowatts. Why?"

"If we're ever out somewhere remote and you can't get electrical power or food feast on me. I could spare that much with minimal impact."

Niska gave him a grin and raised eyebrow, "Aren't you sweet. Niska, mutant vampire fish. Be good to me or I'll suck you dry."

Daniel raises his eyebrows, "Promises, promises."

"Of blood! You better go, Mia's tank is almost full."

"How's your power level? Can I get you a sweet coffee?"

Niska flicks her tail and grabs the back of his neck, pulls him in for a quick kiss before dropping back into the water.

"I'll take that as a yes. Back soon." he clambers down, folds the ladder and races with it over to Mia. "Duck down slowly, let's see how close it is to full."

[Chapter-49](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-49-2)


	49. Chapter 49

Carly did some family friendly dancing that everyone could join in with, Niska and Mia hidden behind their curtains. Fred and Toby were having a go at being DJs, doing okay for a first time on decks.

Daniel hands his parents drinks each, "Thanks for all your help today, Dozer too. When do you need the scaffolding back Dad?"

"Tomorrow morning. It'll be a busy night. I'm pooped."

"We've got a bit of a break after this performance, if you want to go have a snooze for a bit you can use my room, it's got fresh bedding on." He pulls his door card out. "The beds are brilliant."

Frank looks at his wife, "What do you think Kay? You did say all those scales wore you out."

"Do you have an alarm clock?"

"When you're in the room say Hello Viera loudly. When she replies ask for a wake up call."

"Viera?"

"Mats AI."

"Okay." Kay accepts the card. "How do we get there?"

"Get to a lift and press the Assist button, ask for directions to my room."

"Thanks dear."

The afternoon passed quickly with people joining in all sorts of ball games and other activities.

Kate turns to Laura, "Had I known it would be like this I'd have brought the children along. All the children here are so well behaved."

"Mats says that in their classes they're regularly reminded that what they have in here is a privilege and not a right. There are many children around the world that have nothing but the rags they wear. It helps keep them grateful and grounded."

"Does MEH support many charities?"

"Lots! All through the people here so it doesn't appear to come from the firm."

"Why hide the fact?"

"She used to do it direct, then people learnt how much she was donating and started to appear cap in hand. Mats wants to support charities she believes in and trusts."

"Will and I are the same. The management fees some take off the top are shocking."

~~~

Mats turned an grabbed both of Louise's hands. "Stand still."

"Why? Do I have a bee on me?"

"No. Although with the bright red dress I'm surprised no bees are checking you out. You must have a positive rather than the negative charge. Bees only visit flowers with a negative charge."

Louise searches, "How clever, they don't have to waste time visiting flowers other bees have cancelled the charge on. Mother nature has invented some simple solutions to big problems."

"She sure has."

"Can I move now?"

"Just a few more seconds."

Mats nods to George.

He smiled, "Son, meet the lady in the red dress. Her name is Louise and she's been waiting to meet you."

"She has?"

"She has, we'll leave you to talk in private a moment. Mats."

Mats joins George and walks away with him. 'How did it go?'

'Mary had me delete one more set of facts that could have made life interesting. Otherwise okay I think. I kept a love of cars in.'

'Cool, Sophie will have someone to talk cars to. Why she's a piston head I'll never know.'

They turn to see Louise walking towards them, hand in hand with Odi.

'Frigging hell, it worked?'

'It would appear so.'

'Did you put anything specific in his fact store that might have helped George?'

'Just to be charming and a gentleman.'

Max dropped down onto one knee to change his view point. It got the backs of dancing children into the shot of Carly at the front of the stage. He loved his new friend more than anything. His life felt like it had a purpose now. The music had a repetitiveness that the children liked, he thought about the moves she was doing and timed the next shot. Being a synth he knew the exact time it took the camera to react, raise the mirror and open the shutter. He timed it so he'd catch her in the most flattering of positions.

Moments later the music stopped and Carly picked a microphone up off the stage floor. "You're all such awesome dancers! Thank you _so much_ for joining in, I hope you all had fun. Time for bed, see you all soon."

Carly gets her ice water and has a good drink. She was suitably warmed up now. She pulls on thick tracksuit trousers and a puffer coat to keep warm.

Parents work their way into the group and pick up their children.

She keeps moving gently and dance walks over to Toby and Fred. "We'll give them a little while to get to the lifts then ask Viera if she sees any hanging about."

"Cool."

"How are you feeling?"

She turns to Fred, "Brilliant thanks. That was just the warmup I needed."

Toby remembers an order from Mats, "Shit, almost forgot, we've got to slow the strobe rate down so we don't send Dozer into fits."

"Oh. To what?"

"Under seventy."

"Halve it to sixty then."

"Okay. When do I push the button to raise the curtains around the tanks?"

"Did you lengthen and enhance the sound of waves at the beginning?"

"Just as you asked."

"Three seconds before the waves sound stops."

Fred looks at nothing, recalling the mix. "Nine seconds in then. I can do the switch Toby."

"Thanks mate."

Carly gets the microphone, "Hello everyone, we'll be starting the club show in a moment. Just a quick reminder that it's PG12A, if you've got a problem with tasteful nudity it's time to say good night or walk to another part of the park." She turns off the microphone, "You're in for a treat Toby. Mia looks flipping amazing. Nis too. Get your wellies on, it's time."

Toby and Fred change out of trainers into their waders borrowed from the fish farm.

Fred pulls the protective sheet down over the consoles. "We're ready."

Carly turns to the wings, "Frank, we're good!" nothing happens. "Frank?"

Toby walks over and moves a curtain. "He's not there." He returns to the desk and gets the radio from underneath the sheet. "Dan mate, seen your father?"

"He and Mum were having a nap, they're not back down?"

"No. Don't worry, I'll flood the stage."

"Sorry mate, want a hand?"

"Yeah, if you could."

Carly holds a hand out for the radio, takes it from Toby. "Viera, any kids about that shouldn't be?"

"Only one, security have checked and the parents are taking responsibility."

"Okay." She walks over to Niska's tank and slips between the curtains. A moment later she walks over to Mia's. She's back with Fred a minute later. "God your WiFi sharing thing is so good, I'm almost jealous. Being able to dance and be in perfect sync with a troup is hard work for fabs, even ones like me."

"Have a conversion and fork. Then you could be with Daniel and Max. Fab and synth, the best of both worlds."

Carly just stands there mouth open in shock.

"Your heart rate jumps whenever you see him, though not obviously blushing your face, breasts, genitals and posterior get noticeably warmer."

"Am I that obvious?"

"To a synth like me, yes. To a human, probably not."

"You can see that?"

"Yes. My eyes let me see in frequencies that far exceed human limitations."

"Wow. Can you imagine what Frank could do with eyes like that? He could see where buildings aren't efficient with insulation."

"He could."

Carly's eye's start to well up as she suddenly realises something. "Do you think Max knows?"

"He's not interested in the thermal ranges since he got to use that camera."

Freezing cold water laps over her feet. "Do you think people fork as much in other worlds with synths?"

"Possibly. We know Mattie, Niska and Mia did."

Toby returns and presses a button through the sheet, "Dan's going to finish the water." he looks back and up at the rear of the stage, a large projection filled the curtain. "We're good to go as soon as you say the water is deep enough."

Carly splashes around in the water, "A few seconds more should do it. I'll get in position and give you a thumbs up." She steps to the wings and strips down to something between gym and swimming costume. Toby had a finger poised over each of two buttons. One would release the pause on the first audio source, the second start the video. They could have mixed it into one video with sound but Fred had suggested they do it live, the rest of the evening would be live mixes.

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready."

Joe gives Laura a squeeze, "I hope all the practice Toby said they did upstairs pays off."

"Me too. He likes his books but hearing his other self was also a DJ got him quite excited."

The sound of waves crashing on a beach fill the air. An old weathered clock partially covered in seaweed and limpets is projected onto the rear of the stage, waves breaking against it.

Seconds later the curtains start to rise on the two tanks. Long LED strips in the corners fade up and light them from inside.

"Bloody hell!"

Joe doesn't say anything, just grins.

"They look _amazing_! No wonder they took hours to get ready."

Niska and Mia get into their well choreographed routine as Carly comes dancing and splashing onto the stage. Her legs and feet were going like the clappers, her arms moving like hands on a clock putting more emphasis on the idea of time.

Joe nods in the direction of Kate, she was having a good dance, gyrating to the music, Mats and Louise next to her doing the same. "Do you get the feeling she and Will don't get the chance to get out much?"

Laura gives him a squeeze, "It looks that way. Dozer's been asked to make them a statue. William is going to give him a Royal Warrant too."

"He mentioned warrant earlier?"

"It means you get to put the crest on your product and say By Appointment to HM The King."

"Flipping heck! I better get some really good bottles then."

Dozer is clapping in time to the bass synth drum of Zedd's Epos track as Carly gets even more into her high energy routine. "She's good isn't she."

Susan nods, "Very. Fancy her?"

"No. I'd fancy you doing some dancing."

"Want to come to classes with me?"

"Um. Yeah. Just don't ask me to wear any sissy dance clothes."

Will leans towards Daniel, "How does she keep going so long? I'm worn out just watching her."

"The early morning parkour fitness training we do, very good for cardiovascular fitness."

"Monday to Friday?"

"Monday to Saturday."

"Noted. I've played with Harry in Invictus Games training sessions a couple of months ago, my stamina is not what it once was."

"We'll get you back into shape."

Carly does some very fast on the spot running sending water high into the air. She times it perfectly with the strobes making the water and herself look like it was in slow motion then frozen. She smiles to herself as she gets cheers of applause. Breathing fast she slowly lowers the pace and power making it look like time was running backwards. It gets her even more applause. This was fun. She'd not done this for years but the memories were all flooding back. She does a wide arcing walk around the stage, arms repeatedly stretched to the sides then brought up to do a clap above her head. The audience joins in. She gets to Niska's tank and does a high speed booty shake, blows a kiss to Nis and dance struts to Mia to do the same.

Mats looks at Daniel, "You look.. oddly happy."

"I'm not sure which is turning me on more, fish like Niska or Carly's dancing."

"Down boy!"

When the sound like drums comes on Carly does an exaggerated march to the DJ booth, does a straight leg bend and drop to hands, launches into a series of fast on the spot backflips. After a few seconds she adjusts them so she slowly drifts towards the centre of the stage. Meters from the stage edge she launches into a somersault, lands on her feet and gets into more dance moves.

Sophie smiles, "I used to be able to do that."

"It's been a while Teeny."

"Yeah. Maybe I should start again?"

"Go for it."

The sisters get back to their dancing and watching the show.

The sound of the clock at the end of the track gets louder and louder. The projection slowly zooms in as the ticking slows, the clock stops. Carly drops to the floor, dead. Niska and Mia freeze in their tanks and sink towards the bottom as the projection, tank, stage and park lights are all faded to black.

There's a long eerie silence before the lights come up again.

Carly gets onto hands and knees, then stands. Mia and Niska raise themselves up with a flick of their tails and rest their arms on the tops of the tanks. The crowd goes nuts. Max walks on stage with several large bath towels.

Mats was stood at the front in bare feet. "Let's have a round of applause for Carly, our mermaids Mia and Niska, DJs Toby and Fred. Also a big thanks to the Candlin family and Dozer for helping make the stage and making the mermaid costumes."

Joe joins in the clapping then wolf whistles. "BRAVO!"

Mats chuckles, waits for the applause to subside. "Thanks Dad. Before we continue with the rest of the club night I have an announcement to make. As you will all know by now I had an accident outside a while back, was in a critical state, on death's door. I'm sure during the last few days everyone has seen me out and about, not cooped up on 96. I've spoken to many of you, had some nice comments on how well I look. I'm no longer afraid of germs. Anyone curious as to why?"

There are a few murmurs.

"Remember how the clock in the projection slowed and stopped? That's my body now. I'll never age."

A teenager raises her hand.

"Yes Anna."

"Is it because of that virus they found in you?"

The rumour mill was working well. "No, hopefully it helps others, it's done all it can for old me."

Another hand is raised. "Old you?"

"Yes, old me."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a new body. Younger in appearance, same old me mentally, with a whole new set of skills."

"How can you have a new body? That's impossible."

"Not impossible, just highly improbable unless you happen to have Leo and David Elster, George Millican around."

Anna raises a hand again.

"Ask away."

"Did they grow you a new one? Has someone finally perfected 3D organ printing of a whole person?"

"Sadly no, they can still only print the kidney and liver. Neither of which I have now."

"You need dialysis?"

"No."

"But I've seen you eating and drinking."

"For fuel, yes. More accurately for power. Electrical power."

There's a hell of a lot of whispering.

Another hand goes up.

"Yes Thomas."

"Are you a robot?"

Mats chuckles, "No! I'm still very much a human, just in an artificial body."

"Can you make me a girlfriend then?"

There's lots of laughter from those in the crowd that had been able to hear.

"Technically yes, but who's mind would _live_ in it? Without a mind it would be nothing more than a lifeless sex doll."

"That would be a start. Ouch!" he turns to see his angry mother who'd just clipped him around the ear.

"The service will be made available to anyone suffering from incurable medical conditions."

Thomas's mother looks away from her son towards the stage, "How does it feel being in one?"

"I don't think of it like that most of the time. It's not like being separate to the physical self. I feel all the normal things. Probably not what you want your son to hear but sex is fantastic."

"Ouch! I didn't say anything!"

"No Thomas, but you were thinking it."

"Muuuum!"

Another hand goes up, "So you're the worlds first iHUMAN?"

"We prefer the term synthetic human."

"We? You're not the first?"

"No. George, David and Edwin made the first. Mia, Fred, Niska and Max, then for themselves as their brains were failing."

Max steps close and leans towards the microphone and smiles warmly, "Hello. I'm Max."

A lady towards the back shouts out, "Fancy a date Max?"

Carly gives her hair another rub, "Sorry, he's already seeing me Cynthia."

Mats looks around the crowd, "The offer I gave my direct reports is open to you too. If the idea freaks you out, or makes you too uncomfortable, I'll pay for your family to move out. I'll give you twice market rates and a year's salary so you can establish yourself back in the outside world. Obviously this is all information that falls under the lifetime NDA you've all already signed. We've got a good thing going in here, anyone who deliberately spoils it.. well hopefully nobody ever needs to see me angry. So, anyone want out immediately?"

She sees an arm go up which is quickly pulled down by another. "Question or want out?"

"Want out for a few months, to see my brother in Australia."

"You don't need to leave to take a holiday."

"It may be a long while, he's dying. All this made me admit to myself how little time he probably has left."

"Have we met him?"

"No."

"Do you think he'd pass our screening?"

"I think so."

Mats looks for Leo in the crowd, "Fancy a trip to Oz?"

"It's a bit far, if we can take a fast shuttle, sure."

Mats looks back at the man, "Is he fit to fly?"

"I think so."

"We can bring him here then."

"Thanks!"

Another young adult raises a hand.

"Yes Lucas?"

"How did you get up there in the dark?"

"I can see in infrared if I need to."

Another hand goes up.

"Yes, um.."

'Giles.'

".. Giles?"

"No question, just a thanks for letting me join Karon."

"You're welcome." 'Louise please tell me you interviewed him!'

'I did, twenty nine minutes ago. Best green we've seen from outside for a while.'

'Thank Fatima's Gods and ours. He had me worried for a moment.'

[Chapter-50](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-50-2)


	50. Chapter 50

Toby, Fred, Carly, Mia and Niska had done another two songs before Fred offered to take over DJing.

Daniel pressed the button on the control unit and lowered the trapeze towards Niska. "Der, that's where I've seen it before. The control Dozer uses for his crane."

Niska watches it touch the water and float. It's grabbed and pulled under the surface. Daniel keeps feeding rope until it's under her bottom. She puts a hand up and signals stop.

As her head breaks the surface she blows bubbles, "Can someone get us both a super strong sugar with a splash of coffee?"

Toby races away, "On it!"

Mats steps out from the wings with Will and Kate. "I have someone that would like to meet you both."

Daniel raises her out of the water, swings her over and lowers her down.

Kate steps close and reaches out a hand, "May I?"

Niska frowns a little, "If you like." She bump talks to Mia as Kate touches her scales. "Oh. Sorry, yes your highness."

"Kate, please, call me Kate."

"Niska. My mermaid sister is Mia."

"Beautiful, both of you. I had some fun costumes to wear for catwalk shows before I met Will, nothing like this though. It's so detailed. Did it take long to put on?"

"Many hours. We're going for a swim in the pool in a moment."

"You have a pool here too?"

"And large gym. It's like a whole city in a single building."

Daniel had been working on getting Mia out of her tank. "Just about anything you'd expect to do on an average day, we can cater for it."

Kate whisper to Will.

He shakes his head, "We don't have costumes dear."

"But I've always wanted to swim with dolphins, mermaids are _way_ better."

Will walks over to Daniel and whispers into his ear.

"Um. Er, I guess. If we all do."

Toby returned with two very hot almost syrupy coffees. "Why the look?"

Daniel smiles and beckons him over, whispers.

"Oh. Jesus. Really?"

Daniel nods.

"Who am I to turn down royals."

Toby and Daniel carried their mermaids to the pool.

Max was carrying his hot little dancer.

"You're baking."

"Thanks to Fred and Toby's remixes those sets were almost twice as long as the originals."

Max lowers Carly to the pool side. "What's the plan?"

"You men all strip off and jump in, close your eyes, Kate and I will jump in after."

Toby and Daniel lower their mermaids towards the water at the deep and and let go.

Toby was transfixed. Watching Mia swim freely in the deep water was beyond words. Being a writer and publisher it both pleased and angered him. He needed words like he needed air. "I think I'm sponsoring Sea Shephard in the morning."

Daniel glanced sideways, "Who?"

"The people that help protect whales and sharks from hunters."

"Oh. I'll match whatever you donate."

"Really? It might be rather a lot."

"As long as you don't bankrupt me, sure."

Mia got to the bottom and turned, raced up to the surface and did a backwards flip several meters above the water.

"Mate. How lucky are we? Seriously."

Daniel glances over at Toby, "Yeah, very. Um, I think we're needed at the other end."

In the water and feeling more than a bit self conscious Will joins them. "Don't turn around. What happens in the pyramid stays in the pyramid right gentlemen?"

Toby looks nervously at Daniel, "Um, yeah, sure."

Max jumps over Toby's head and bombs the water.

Toby sniggers, "Sorry Will, Max is the kid of the family."

Will wipes water from his eyes, "It's alright, George has done worse at bath time."

"Eh? Oh, your George, for a second.."

Daniel shakes his head, "You muppet Tobs."

A naked Kate dives over the top of them into the water. She surfaces a good way down the pool and is joined by Niska then Mia. The three start swimming about in the deep end.

Carly does a graceful dive over Daniel, hardly makes a splash.

Will smiles, "She's quite something that Carly. If you all fancy recreating that first dance at the Royal Variety Performance I'd be more than willing to cover your expenses."

"Oh wow! Yeah, well up for that!"

Kate swims over, "Not going to join us?"

"I thought you'd like some privacy dear."

"I'm fine. Come swim with the mermaids."

An hour or so later Will was called for his meeting with Mats. Kate got out with him. Carly and Max left soon after.

Mia swims underwater towing Toby behind her, a hand on each of her shoulders. She gets to the deep end. "How are you feeling Toby?"

"Brilliant! Amazingly brilliant!"

"It's a shame these tails have to come off and can't be unzipped. I've got one last thing for you."

"What's that?"

"Back to the wall and keep yourself from sinking."

"Eh?"

"Put your arms up bent and the elbows and put your hands on the pool edge."

"Like this?"

"That's it."

"Why?"

"An idea Nis shared, she says you might like it."

Mia ducked under the water and a second later Toby's pupils rolled out of sight under his eyelids, he gasps and shudders, "Oh boy. I'm definitely going vegetarian now."

Seconds later he blinks, looks at the other end of the pool and grins, it looked like Daniel was getting the same treatment from Niska.

A few minutes later Niska tows Daniel over to the deep end. "Hi Toby."

"Hi Nis."

Mia smiles at her partner, "What do you boys want to do now? Have you had enough swimming?"

"I don't think I could ever have enough of the swimming. I'd love to do that on holiday in the sea if we can make zip up tails. The swimming bit that is."

"Thanks Toby. Can you help peel me, we can go for dinner."

"Sure. Shall we get a table for four?"

"That would be nice. Which restaurant?"

"One where they do good vegetarian food."

[Chapter-51](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-51-2)


	51. Chapter 51

Mats stood by the window with her guests. "So we're all agreed? I keep MI5, Leo is to become MI6 head?"

"Agreed."

"Thank you." It occurred to Mats that the PM hadn't been around for the club dancing in the park and announcement. "Um, John, there's something else you should know."

John nursed his drink. He'd not been given a whisky this good in many years. "Oh yes?"

"I'm not your average human." Will closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Oh dear. He clearly knew something she didn't. "I'm very demanding when it comes to people doing things right. I'll have people trained and retrained, but I don't accept sloppy work. We all make mistakes, continued mistakes and the person has to go. With their mind wiped.."

"Wiped?"

"Of anything that happened while in here, yes."

"Such technology doesn't exist! Does it Leo."

"I'm afraid it does sir."

"Poppycock. That's not possible."

Mats smiles, "I'll bet you a million pounds that it is. And if I lose you owe me nothing."

The PM frowns and takes a tiny sip of his drink. "A million you say? Heads I win, tails you lose?"

"Yes. One with six nice little zeros behind it."

"You're definitely not the average human if you make such crazy bets. And what would I have to do for my side of the thing?"

"Write a sentence on some paper, turn it face down. Leo puts our device on your head, if five minutes later you can recall the words the money is yours."

"Will it drill into my head?"

"No! It might give you a mild headache for a few seconds, nothing more."

"And how many people has it been used on before me?"

"Leo's father, Doctor George Millican, Professor Edwin Hobb, myself."

Leo adds more ice to his drink. "Myself, Toby and Sophie Hawkins, Mary Millican, Daniel and Carly, the rest of the security team.."

"When?"

"This morning. Sophie asked if we could start doing it weekly as a precaution."

"She did did she?"

Leo hums a confirmation.

"Lots then. So fancy a chance at one million?"

"Show me it works on Leo first."

"That's not possible. Leo has to operate the machine, he'd witness what he was doing and remember it."

"Okay. Let me mull it over for a few minutes. Before I forget, my wife's trying to arrange a dinner party, do you have Eric's temporary address?"

"I'm sure we have it somewhere."

'Mats! Get to your desk before you say another word!'

'Viera?'

'Do it! Please.'

"Maybe I've got it in an email, give me a moment." Mats walked over and looked at the screen. There were three graphs side by side. In a big fat font were three names. Kate, Will, John. Kate and Will's graphs were perfectly green. John's had just spiked into the red. 'That confirms my gut feeling.' She sits down and types. "Let's see, emails from Eric." 'Can you play back the few seconds when he jumped to red?'

'Routing to your display.'

Video played, the audio shared over bump protocols. 'Before I forget, my wife's trying to arrange a dinner party, do you have Eric's temporary address?'

'Frigging hell! Arranging a party is clearly a lie. And when he says Eric's name..'

'Clear contempt. He's very good at hiding it but it is there.'

"I'm sure he sent it in an email. When did the bomb go off in his home? It would have been the day after that."

John looks out of the window at the evening skyline. "The twenty second I think."

'He doesn't think anyone can see him but I've got a reflection of his face in a number of cameras. Another red spike. He knows _exactly_ when. My bet being because he's somehow linked to the bombing.'

'Frigging hell V! Our own PM?'

'There's one way to find out. Up the bet until he can't resist. Don't delete a thought, back him up.'

'That's a gross invasion of privacy.'

'So's breaking into someone's house and trying to kill them, their wife and child.'

'You have a point.'

"I can't find it. I'm sure I wouldn't have deleted it." She sees Leo go to open his mouth and does a strange blink and head shake.

Leo frowns and thankfully guesses what it meant as his phone chimes with a txt from Viera.

"We'll have a search later and forward it on. Can you send us an email we can reply to?"

'Mats? Permission to jam all 3, 4 and 5G radio signals please?'

'Okay?'

'When he sees he has no service offer our WiFi, I'll packet capture everything.'

'Nice thinking!'

John gets his phone out and composes an email, hits send. The phone bings. "Oh, no signal. Never mind, I'll send it when I get home."

"Jump on our WiFi, look for MEH, passcode m1tt13bam."

"It's okay, it can wait."

"Sure? It doesn't take more than a few seconds and you'd have it for all your many future visits."

John licks his teeth in contemplation. "Go on then, if you could." the phone is handed over.

Mats taps away, gets it on the network. 'Capturing?'

'I am. He's got it using standard encryption techniques and IMAP4.'

'How long before you have it cracked?'

'It could be seconds, it could be days or weeks depending on how lucky we get.'

'Don't go into melt down but throw some serious cycles at it. None of the systems that monitor this room though.'

'Understood.'

Mats hands John his phone back, "See, easy. Now let me see if it's arrived." She sits behind the desk and opens her email again. "John.. gov.uk, subject is address for party invite. Good, got it, thanks. Anyone need a top up?"

Wills made his excuses and left with Kate and the three security staff that had been waiting patiently by the lift. Seconds after he'd gone her phone chimes.

She reads a message from Will: MEH trust 100%. PM 0%. "Wonderful, Sophie's got us a table booked." She slides the phone into a pocket. "It's nice to see you weren't tempted by the money."

"Oh I am, I just didn't want to accept it in front of the king."

'You can't have missed that Mats?'

'As clear as frigging day Viera. The bastard.'

She smiled, a last, the rat had taken the bait.

[Chapter-52](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-52-2)


	52. Chapter 52

Carly smiled as she danced to Fred's high energy dance mix. He was a natural. He had a pair of cans on and was body rocking to the beat. The track playing was an old one, Rudimental's Waiting All Night but with other track samples mixed in perfectly to keep the beat up in the quieter slower sections.

"Tell me that you need me."

Max smiles, "I need you!"

"Tell me that you want me."

"I want you!"

She jumps and throws her legs around him, gets grinding, one hand on his shoulder, the other held high in the air.

"I want you too, to the Maximum." She arches her back and rubs against him hard.

"I didn't think you meant quite like this."

"Undo your zip."

"Not here!"

"It's dark, nobody will see."

"Carly.."

She grabs his hand and pulls it forwards and down, uses his fingers to pull her stretchy dance pants to one side.

"Carly.." she was hot and wet.

"Tell me you really don't want me then Max."

"I do, just not.."

"What? Not here."

"Not like this."

"Then take me upstairs."

Max walked towards the lifts. "You're a bad girl Carly.."

"Bad woman Max. There's a difference."

Max did a dance like walk as they got to the woods in the middle of the park, occasionally turning around a full three sixty and shaking from side to side. The sound of the music flooded the park, was somehow mostly echo free.

A lift was waiting with doors open. As they get in Carly reaches for his zip, "If you won't make love to me in the park how about the lift?"

"Carly, what if someone else gets in?"

Carly grips tight with both legs and arches right back, looks at the control panel upside down, presses the Assist button. "Viera dear, can you do me a favour please?"

"Hello Carly, everything okay?"

"Everything is wonderful. Can you prevent lift, um 3B from being used by anyone else until I give the all clear."

"Okay. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Possibly. Can you make it go from top to basement repeatedly, doors always closed."

"Another juddering lift?"

"Maybe."

"Okay."

Max gave in and let Carly have her wicked way.

Fourteen minutes later with her hair matted and body covered in a film of sweat she shivers, muscles clench and she climaxes for the fifth time and screams.

She breathes in, holds it and breathes out slowly. "Cli-Max to the _Maximum_!"

"Am I anything more to you than just a lover?"

"God yes!"

"Only you're appearing more and more to be like the description of Emily in Mattie's world."

"Shit! Has someone said something?"

"Said what?"

With some difficulty Carly gets to her feet, wobbles and has to grab the hand rail. "God my legs are spent."

"Let me carry you home."

"Oh Max, you're such a sweetheart."

Max adjusts her clothes and picks her up, "Can you tell her to cancel the instruction?"

"Sure."

Max opens the door and carries her across the threshold, "Let me run you a hot bubble bath." He kicks the door closed with a foot and carries her to the bathroom.

She runs a hand over the back of his head, "I don't deserve you."

"Of course you do."

"I don't, I have a confession to make. I want a synth copy to live with you. She won't age."

"A copy? And what happens to the original?" He lowers her onto the toilet seat, opens the taps and reaches for the bubble bath.

Tears start flowing, "She takes the name I was almost given by my mother."

Max smiles and squeezes a good amount into the running water. "And which name was that?"

"Emily."

Max freezes for a couple of seconds and turns to see her, "I see." He looks back at the bath and listens to the water thundering in. Whoever did the plumbing in the pyramid didn't use small bore pipes, not like the ones in the run down building they'd stayed in last. Memories of the three brothers stood on the pavement in wigs come back, Niska shaking her head and rolling her eyes before breaking into a smile and laughing. Laughter. How had a species evolved to have laughter? Whatever the reason he was grateful for it. And very fast filling baths.

He reaches for a flannel and finds a bright yellow rubber duck underneath. On it's side were the words Ark Fleet Ship A. "Ship A?"

"A gift from Toby. He's a massive fan of a series of books."

"I don't understand?"

"In the story Ark Fleet Ship B was a starship designed to relocate the useless part of the population from the planet of Golgafrincham."

"So A was to carry the good part?"

"Yes."

Max picks it up, feels the weight and calculates a trajectory, tosses it over his shoulder without looking into the bath. "You're never alone with a rubber duck."

Carly smiles briefly. "Did you just do a search?"

"Yes. I think I'll get copies, they sound like a good read. So Toby thinks you're not useless too. Your synth copy idea, I guess Daniel does the same to grow old with you and stay young as a synth with Niska?"

The tears flow even more as Carly hides her face in her hands, sobs uncontrollably. Her extreme high from the evening's dancing had crashed. "I've messed everything up. I shouldn't have been born. I messed up in Mattie's world, I've messed up in this one."

Max kneels down in front of her and gently wraps his arms around her, "Don't say that, if you'd never been born this world wouldn't be as good as it is. Who knows, I could still be living in a slum if you hadn't helped Mats get to where she is. Not that what we were doing could really be called living."

Carly sobbed even more, "If she'd never met me maybe she's still be alive in the body she was born with."

"Born or reborn?"

Carly wipes a very runny nose, "Reborn?"

Max checks the temperature of the water with a look. "Into her new body. I think you need to experience being in a synth body." he pulls her top gently up and over her head. "Have a bath, it's ready."

She stands and kicks off her shoes, wriggles out of her dance pants.

Max sweeps her off her feet and gently lowers her into the bath. He grabs the flannel, wets it and wipes her face. "Please don't cry."

She slides and slips under the water.

Max panics and gets both hands under the bubbles to pull her back up.

She wipes bubbles from her face. "I was just wetting my hair to wash it, calm down!"

"You said _I shouldn't have been born_ , I was worried."

"Aww Max." the tears start to flow again.

Max gets shampoo, "Slide forwards."

She does so and is surprised to see Max get in fully dressed. Water runs into the overflow as he slowly starts to sit down. "Max! You've got all your clothes on!" Tears turn to laughter. "You're crazy."

"And my shoes. Keep laughing, laughter is much better for you." He keeps lowering himself in, keeping an eye on the water level. "Still warm enough?"

"Yes thanks." Carly's body relaxes as he starts to give her a head massage. "My God that feels good."

"Nobody's given you one before? You must have had your hair washed by others lots of times?"

"Sure, but not like that. That's, so.."

"Pleasurable?"

"Yeah, pleasurable."

"Can I wash your hair?"

"If you'd like to."

[Chapter-53](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-53-2)


	53. Chapter 53

Mats slid open a draw and pulled out a compliment slip. She slides it over the desk with a pen. "Write the following words. That was the easiest million I ever made."

John takes the pen and takes a few seconds to work out he had to unscrew the lid of the fountain pen. He writes in the neatest handwriting he can, which was still terrible. Did anyone do much writing these days? He sure didn't. "Okay."

Mats turns it upside down, "Can you see the words?"

"No."

For a change he was telling the truth. "Good. Leo."

Leo steps forward and places the cap on his head. "Okay, give me five."

Leo fires off a backup, watches John wince for a few seconds, "Did that hurt?"

"Only for a second."

Leo taps away at the keyboard in another window pretending to be busy.

Mats smiles at John, "If you were to win, which you won't, what would you do with the money?"

"Put it in a high interest account and take a good long holiday."

"Anywhere nice?"

"Skiing in Canada."

"Nice. Why Canada?"

"It's not the USA."

"Good point. You'd not spend it on cars and toys?"

"I have enough of those already. I do quite well in the dinner speech network."

"How much can you earn for a top event?"

"A few thousand."

"How many is a few?"

"Twenty."

"Twenty grand for a free meal and a talk?"

"Yes."

"Wow. That's not a bad rate. How many do you do a year?"

"About two a week, though most pay a fraction of that."

Mats saw green in her head but still glanced at the monitor for confirmation. "Do you have children?"

"At boarding school. Two boys."

"So you don't get to see them much?"

"They hardly know me."

They carried on chatting until Leo poked through the data, found the sentence and deleted the memory.

John winced. "Ow! Was that you just deleting the sentence?"

"Sorry yes."

John smiled, "I'll get my bank account sort code ready, you can wire the money directly."

Mat chuckles, "As if.."

John does a tiny sneer and talks very slowly, "That. Was. The. Easiest. Million. I. Ever. Made."

Leo looks shocked, "I deleted it I swear!"

Mats gives them both a confused look, "How?"

"I remembered both that was the easiest million I ever made _and_ made ever I million easiest the was that. I just had to put the words back into the right order."

"Frigging hell. Sneaky."

"If you want to play in the shark pool you have to know how to think like one M." He unlocks his phone and finds a notepad doc, "If you could please."

Mats takes the phone. Damn him. A lot of good could be done with that money. 

She types away. 'Viera, I've got his unlocked phone again, anything I can do with minimal taps to get all of his email account details?'

'Thinking. One million for a backup of his mind if he's behind the bombing isn't to bad a price to pay for UK security if it gets him jailed.'

'It itself wouldn't be admissible in court, but I guess James and Mum could use it to find incriminating evidence.'

'And he's likely got a network of people. Don't worry about grabbing details, his phone will be checking all email accounts on a regular basis. I've seen it poll three times so far. Gmail, hotmail and a government site. I've not cracked the encryption yet but all three server and port combinations are for email services.'

'Brilliant.'

Mats copies the details from the notepad doc into the form and types 1000000.00. Hopefully she'd be able to prove what went on and get it back. She clicks and sees a confirmation message. "Done." she slides his phone back. "If you've got online banking you should see it's there."

John switches app and logs in.

'I've just seen his login details _and_ him tap out his four code letters!'

'Viera! Nice work! We'll be able to find his memorable data in the backup. Ask Leo to copy it to the network please.'

John switches views and looks at the recent transactions. "Easiest million. You're a little crazy M, you must be flush for cash. Even more irresponsible with funds that that loose cannon James. I can't see you lasting long in this job if you take such crazy risks."

Mats smiles, "We'll see. Care to make another bet?"

"Go on?"

"Double or quits. If I, as M, outlast you as PM, I get my money back. If I leave the job before you, you get another million."

He puts a hand out for a handshake. "You're on!"

Mats grabs his hand tight and yanks him over the desk, pins his head to the surface. "If you want to swim with sharks make sure you're the biggest, know who's pool you're pissing in. Know what M stands for now?"

James found it hard to speak with his face being crushed. "No?"

"Megalodon."

"What's that?"

Leo had interpreted the actions well, cable ties the mans hands behind his back. Krystal had shown him how to modify his trouser belt so he always had one at hand for emergencies.

Mats lets the pressure off and shoves him off her desk. "Viera, a history lesson if you may please, on the wall screen. While you run that I'll phone the Commissioner."

John scowls, "Are you all barking mad!"

"You're the one that crossed the bridge into crazy town, looking for a way to line his pockets. My friend Viera just cracked your encryption. Fancy leaving all those emails in your trash and not purging them. The bombing, the bribes paid, you're going down so fast there'll be a sonic boom." She gets his phone off the floor, unlocks it and logs into his banking app. "I'll only take my million back. The rest the police can deal with."

"How'd you get into my phone?"

"You showed us."

"No I didn't!"

"You let the largest compound eye on the planet see you unlock it."

"You spied on me!"

"Only because you clearly lied about Eric."

"You bitch!"

Mats steps over and pushes him backwards, puts a foot on his chest. "Unlike you I don't let my power corrupt me, I use it for good. This rather nice pointed heal, I could push it through your ribs into your heart faster than the three forty milliseconds it takes you to blink. If that makes me a bitch, sure, I'm a bitch. Want to die here and now?"

He doesn't say a thing.

"DO YOU! I could have lost my friend Carly in the blast. Thankfully she only got temporary hearing problems."

He says nothing.

"DO YOU!" She puts more weight on her heal.

"No!"

She returns to her desk and dials. "Why the hard working British tax payer should pay for you to rot in a prison cell for years, get three meals.." the phone clicks. ""Hello, Mats here, can you bring one of your vans with a cage for prisoners to the basement carpark?"

"Hello Mats. May I ask why?"

"I have the man responsible for the bombing at Eric's in my office. Make sure your officers are armed incase he tries something funny. He's a nasty shit."

"Who is he?"

"The soon to be ex prime minister."

"NO WAY! You better have some _very good_ evidence Mats."

"We do. Emails, bank accounts, video. It all ties up thanks to some lightning fast cross referencing from Viera. And thanks to Leo all of John's dirty little secrets will be out in the open."

"Bravo ladies, Leo, I'll get the van out, get unmarked escorts too."

Mats throws Leo a look, "Would they be BMW?"

"Yes."

"What are the officers names?"

"DS Johnson, Johnson, Patel and Slowinski."

"Frigging hell! It _is_ them!"

"Do you know them?"

"Of them."

"How? Nobody knows who mans those cars, you're the first outside of the force I've told."

"Let's just say those four good guys are known by a small number of law abiding citizens that know and consider them good friends."

"Mats, you're talking in riddles. Explain yourself."

"Maybe one day I will. Get over hear pronto please, he's making my office smell."

"On my way!"

The call ends.

Max stands in the bath and undresses, wrings out his wet clothes and hangs them on the towel rail. He leans over and places his shoes laces down in the sink. A large towel is taken and wrapped around his waist.

He climbs out and gets another, holds it out hands far apart. "Out you come. Do you towel dry or blow dry your hair normally?"

"Blow dry." A single tear flows as she stands and has a towel wrapped around her.

"What are you thinking?"

"I feel so guilty."

"And I feel so grateful."

"For me feeling guilty?"

"For every wonderful second you've allowed me to be around you. I'm a synth. You could lock me in a dark room with only a power feed for eternity. As long as I could recall all those moments again and again I'd be a happy man."

A tear from her other eye gives her symmetry, Max gently wipes them both away with his thumbs, his palms against her cheeks.

She steps from the bath and rests her head against his chest. "I'll wrap my hair in a towel tonight, let's jump into bed. I'm exhausted, I want to fall asleep in your arms."

[Chapter-54](http://markse.name/humans/MATS-CONT/Chapter-54-2)


	54. Chapter 54

Months later on a bright Friday morning Mats shifted in her bed up on 96. She opens her eyes and sees her desk, the lift lobby in the distance. Something very warm was against her bottom. An arm wraps around her, she feels an elbow rest on her hip and a hand gently rub her stomach before it slowly starts moving downwards. "Are you awake?"

"I am Scarlet."

Mats wakes with a start, feels something warm against her bottom. Thankfully this time she could see the bedroom walls of the apartment. Dreaming of waking up. Frigging hell!

She wriggles away. The something moves and she feels warmth again. "Are you awake?"

"I do hope so."

She rolls over to see Leo. "Thank God it's you."

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"I just woke in a dream before waking for real."

"Why thank God?"

"I was dreaming of being Scarlet."

Leo rolls onto his back, "You're worried about forking."

"I guess."

She picks up her phone to see a load of notifications from her BBC News App. "Hurrah, they'd found him guilty." She unlocks the phone and opens the notification, reads for a few seconds. "No way! Awesome!"

"What is?"

"Eric was just the start of his plans. They've locked him away for treason."

"Treason? That carries a life sentence."

"Yup. On the top of his list was William."

"Bloody hell! You and Viera are going to get a load of brownie points for that."

"No we won't, because he'll never find out."

"What? Why?"

"He doesn't need to know. Some of his most trusted security people maybe. Why make him unnecessarily jumpy."

"Your call."

She rolls her head sideways, "Yes Q2, it is M's call." She goes back to the notification list, "Build machine one and two say they're done. Dan and Carly 2.0 are ready for power up."

"I'd let George and Mary take care of it."

"Yeah, they've fallen into the role nicely. You know she's finally had enough of the bunions, she's up next."

"I wondered when the time would come. Her design has been ready for months."

Mats grins, "You know he's bought himself a retro sports car and plans to do a road trip down to Portugal?"

"No?"

"Something about letting Mary pose for a photo and push an old thought out of his head. He wouldn't say any more than that. Any idea what he could have meant?"

"I'm not looking through his backup to find out. But Max mentioned George wants to borrow the dSLR. Add the sports car he got and Mary soon to look like the young woman he first met again.. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out he wants to rekindle a flame."

Mats clears a load of notifications, reads and rolls right over. "How do you fancy a road trip?"

"Bike or Jag?"

"Jag."

"To?"

"The estate. Dozer says the old building has gone, all rubble has been cleared from the site. They're ready to talk about excavation work."

"That took a while, what happened to steam in steam out?"

"They interleaved it with other jobs. I didn't want them upsetting other clients."

"You still want to put an exacore there?"

"Yeah, we're all a bit eggs in one basket here."

"Speaking of eggs, what do you want to do for breakfast?"

She rolls on top and lets her hair fall forwards, surrounding his face, "How about room service?"

"I thought you said this wasn't a hotel?"

"It's not. There's food in the fridge. You know, stuff you cook yourself?"

"Ah. Hint received. What would you like?"

"Three scrambled eggs on two white slices. Cut nice and thick."

"And to drink?"

"Orange juice and a strong coffee please."

"You'll need to let me get up."

"I can feel you getting up already. Breakfast can wait a few minutes."

Joe stretched and yawned, "And how's Money Penny this morning?"

Laura rolled her eyes, "You're running out of nicknames to try aren't you. I'm not Money Penny or Honey Ryder, if you even think of calling me Pussy Galore.."

"I'm a dead man. I know. Which Evil Empire are you working against today?"

"You know I can't tell you that, you don't have the clearance."

"Oh go on L, just a hint."

Laura rolls and whispers in his ear, "Here's a hint. Get dressed and go down to the farm level, get bottling before the king wonders what it was he preordered."

"It's not finished fermentation yet."

"How do you know?"

"It's not at seven percent yet."

"Do you have all the bottles and labels ready?"

"Yes, everything is waiting, bottles, labels, caps, boxes, the bottling machine, filters, you name it. It's just waiting on the fermentation to finish."

"And you can't cut a few days off?"

"No! He'd tell the difference."

"So what are you going to do today?"

"I thought I'd get the tractor mowers out and have a grass cutting race with Soph and Odi in the park, it's getting a bit long."

"I guess that's productive."

"Apart from being MI5's top lawyer what will you be doing?"

"I'm meeting the girls for tea this afternoon."

"Which ones?"

"Mats, Soph, Mia, Nis, Mary and Carly."

"For tea?"

"And cake. Mia's been baking, wants some feedback."

"Hoho!" he rubs his hands together, "If there's any leftovers.."

"I'll bring some home."

Joe turns and looks out of the massive floor to ceiling window. "This was a good move, I do like it here."

"Now all the kids are in here too the old place was way too big." Laura rolls and looks at his chest. She pinches two fingers together and pulls.

"Ow!"

"A grey one."

"I won't have any left if you keep doing that!"

"Do an extra class a week, get more buff and get it all waxed off."

"I'm finding two 07:30 classes a week more than enough thanks! And why would I want to go through the pain of a waxing?"

Laura whispers into his ear, "Do I have to spell it out?"

"Yes?"

"Bloody hell! Forget it, I'll ask Mats to print me off a hunk." She rolls away to get up.

"Oh! Sorry!" He grabs her arm, not too tight, "Sorry, being a bit slow this morning. Monday, Wednesday and Friday it is."

"Unbelievably slow. If I asked what five letter name L stood for you'd probably take a moment to work that out too."

"No I wouldn't. M is for Megalodon, Q is for Quizzical and L is for Lover."

Laura hadn't expected such a good answer and rolls back, "Joseph Hawkins, you surprise me. Surprise me some more."

The drive had been quick, Pixie had set a new record on the recently resurfaced motorway, the fifth lane now reserved exclusively for fast electric cars with AI. None were as smart as her or as well equipped.

Laura had got some help in getting over her fear of spiders. One brainstorming session on 22 had the team talking about mini monsters, what else they could take inspiration from. Laura had drawn a rough picture of a dragonfly and asked if it was good for anything. Leo had immediately said surveillance. James had asked how fast it could go and they'd got into a conversation about flapping wings vs fixed wings and a tiny fan prop in pusher configuration. A simple sketch rapidly turned into a micro drone not that unlike the robot ones the military flew, only a lot more insect like. Toby then had the idea of having a group of them assigned to the car. They'd take turns to fly ahead to give the AI advanced warning of things on the road.

Their flight time at that speed was short, but in a rotation of charge for seven time periods, fly to lead, hold lead or drop back to car to charge, a team of ten could keep things going. The first few prototypes had issues, the biggest problem was power connections. It had been solved with an electromagnet that pulled the drone into the base when it detected it was in roughly the right position. 

One of the dead prototypes now held onto a brass rod attached to a varnished wooden base. It sat on Laura's office desk looking out over London. The little inscription saying "Best seed idea of the month" faced the window. A little thank-you from the team for the idea. Floor 95 was hers now. A rather grand office with a stunning view.

Leo stared at the lake. "What if my mother wasn't going mad in the way people thought? What if she also had the gift? Or curse depending on your perspective."

Mats moved closer, stood shoulder touching shoulder, "Hearing herself in other worlds?"

"Yeah."

"Are you?"

"No. I'm quite glad actually."

'HELLO?'

"Frigging hell! She's still here."

"Mats?"

"Mattie just said hello."

"As loud as last time?"

"Yeah. Only this time I think I can do something to attenuate it. Give me a few minutes."

"Sure."

'HELL THE FRIGGING O!'

'Matilda?'

'Not the Matilda you killed me transmitting to, no.'

'Sorry? What do you mean killed?'

'Your zip file. history.txt, helmet.bmp, hwini386.c, lapspec.txt. The transmission was so f'ing loud I blacked out, fell down and split my head open, bled to death.'

'Frig! So I'm talking to a ghost?'

'No, a synth. Leo saved me. Friends found the old lab hidden in the basement here, David, George and Edwin waiting to be powered up.'

'Edwin? Shit.'

'Don't worry, we took care of him. The original Hobb's as brain dead as the others.'

'Brain dead?'

'The plastics they were using were giving off bad fumes, did their heads in. They got synth bodies made before they got too bad. They'd made a Mia, Fred, Niska and Max too. No Beatrice copy. We've got the same family, Laura, Joe, Toby, Soph. Mary is still alive in our world, about to get her synth upgrade.'

'Cool. How many synths are there?'

'Under a dozen. Were you trading with Matilda?'

'You could call it that, all one way so far. I hope she's okay, I've not heard from her in a while.'

'Killed her too?'

'Frigging hell, I hope not! She was complaining of headaches, turns out she had a large brain tumour. I shared a load of info for her Fred to skill up and become a surgeon.'

'She's got the Elster synths too?'

'Full set.'

Mats watched Leo looking out over the lake. 'My Fred is lonely, really needs a companion. When I get my next upgrade I was thinking of partially wiping old me and letting me stay with him. With your help I think we could go one better.'

'How?'

'Ask Gesha if I can have a copy of her backup and her physical design.'

'I'll ask. It sounds like you know about me, Matilda was a checkout lady in a supermarket when we first talked, hadn't used her coding skills in years. What do you do?'

'This and that.'

'Go on.'

'You won't pass this on to other Matties, Mats or Matildas will you?'

'If you don't want me to. So far we're the only three. No idea how many of us there are, or how this works. I've got quite a bit of processing on our cluster in France running through all sorts of data. Matilda got sent details for a small cluster, no idea how she's getting on with it.'

'Need more computing power?'

'Got some?'

'How does three hundred thousand exaflops grab you?'

'Frigging fracking fucking hell! HOW MUCH?'

'Three hundred thousand billion billion floating point operations a second. I started building the first system years ago at school, got it solving math homework, got other students using it too. Then teachers paid for a system Daniel helped with, it optically scanned homework, marked it in pen. Another program helped create new homework. I started renting out access to my systems.'

'A hosting service?'

'Yeah. Not bad for an industry that has close to zero women in it.'

'You're kidding me? No women?'

'Close to zero outside my firm. Which is why I have so many in my security and senior management teams. Carly's like a sister. Turns out she's likely to be your Emily. She's forked, going with Max as Carly and Dan as Emily. Dan's forked going with Niska too.'

'Forked? Synths already?'

'Fabs copied into synth bodies. My AI Viera forked into a body, calls herself Louise now. Viera's my exacore OS.'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Your AI has all that power at her command?'

'Yeah. Might be useful now I'm officially the head of MI5.'

'Holy shit! What? Why?'

'Matilda Elizabeth Hawkins Limited. MEH, has the team and compute power to track terrorists around the UK. Our system monitors the UK CCTV network. We do that and some NHS services for free. We liked your Bart idea, we've got the latest electric Jag, goes like the proverbial brown stuff off a shovel. Charges off its solar paintwork now too.'

'That I'd like to see.'

'Yeah? Want to try something? I've had an idea brewing for a while.'

'Go on.'

'Your transfer to Matilda, kinda slow..'

'Well she is a fab.'

'Yeah. We're both synth. Can you isolate things so you hear me not yourself?'

'Easy.'

'So we can go full duplex.'

'I guess. Never tried it before.'

Mats smiles back at Leo. 'Forget any fancy encoding, stick to binary. Send me 10K of text at ten times the speed. And jack the tone frequencies up a bit. Let's see what we get.'

'Okay. Here it comes.'

Mats gets the transmission in well under a minute. 'Shakespeare's Macbeth? Why that?'

'One of the school kids was quoting lines the other day.'

'Fair enough. Let me send it back but faster. If no errors send back to me faster than you got it. Let's see when bit errors creep in.'

'Okay, ready when you are.'

After quite a few back and forth passes of the data Mats decides it's fast enough. 'We developed a way for one synth to link sensory data with another, for Fred.'

'Same here. Think they might be compatible?'

'One way to find out.' Mats puts a hand up to tell Leo to stop his advancing towards her. 'Quick code change idea. Add a tag to the front of each packet. S for your sensory data, C for control. I'll do the same. You'll be able to see through my eyes and move me. I'll be able to do the same in yours. For safety don't allow any sudden moves just in case there's some incompatibilities.'

'Okay. C and S added. Ready if you are.'

'Close your eyes.'

'Done.'

'Stop sending when you want to drop the link.'

Mats closes her eyes and starts sending data. She starts receiving and opens her eyes.

"Oh my God!"

The factory floor was huge. Military Unit Synths were getting on with their daily work. One turns to see her, "Mattie, is everything alright?"

"Um, sure, everything is fine."

Mattie opens Mats' eyes and sees Leo smiling at her. "Hello handsome."

The MUS looks at Mattie, unaware he was speaking to Mats. "Have you finally heard from Matilda?"

"Not yet. Could you get Gesha for me please?"

James frowns at her, "Bumping not working?"

"No bandwidth for it, bit busy at the moment."

He gives her a quizzical look, or the closest he can with his limited facial control. "Okay. I'll see what she's up to. Morning Niska."

Mats turns to see Niska had a tray of breakfast for her. "Hello Nis."

"Morning Mattie, Mia thought you might like some poached eggs."

"Great thanks."

"What did you ask James to do?"

"I asked him if he could get Gesha for me."

Niska places the tray on the floor and kneels down in front of her friend, looks at her very closely, "Any glitches reported in your diagnostics?"

"No?"

"Who are you then?"

"I'm Mattie."

"No. You're not." She gets some distance, "James, get some ropes, Hobb might be back."

"Frigging hell! I'm _not_ Hobb!"

"Then explain why you pronounced Gesha incorrectly. Now please James!"

"I'm. Not. Hobb!"

"What did we do last night?"

"Um.. Okay! I'm not Hobb. I'm Mats. Like Matilda. In another world. Mattie and I are doing sensor share."

"Prove it."

"How?"

"Let me piggyback on your sensory data."

"How? I'm already sharing with Mattie."

"Mattie would know."

Niska stands and walks to one of the build machines. A plastic hook had been stuck to the side. She takes a cable from the set of many different ones hanging over it and returns to Mattie. "Have you cut your hip yet? Why am I asking you, you wouldn't know." She lifts Mattie's top and feels for the connector hidden under the skin. "I'll try not to make this hurt." A sharpened fingernail is jabbed into her skin.

Mattie flinches just as Leo is getting close for a kiss.

He gives her an odd look. "Everything okay Mats?"

"Time to fess up. I'm not Mats. It's Mattie driving. Temporarily via a sensory data share. The Mattie that transmitted the file that caused all the bother. Good job you were around. You're looking very well Leo. Different hair style but otherwise identical. Maybe a little bit buffer than mine, you work out a lot?"

"Just enough."

"Cool. I don't see a ring, not married to her then?"

"We've only known each other months. This feels weird. Something odd.. Hello Leo!"

"Hello Mattie? Or is it Mats?"

"Mattie's Niska." she turns to see behind her, "No mansion or factory?"

"Not yet. We're here to plan a building for an exacore for MI5 and MI6."

"Why would you do that?"

"Mats has one, as the head of MI5 she wants a second. I'm the current head of MI6."

"Need any more highly skilled operatives?"

"Always."

Mats wobbles as Niska disconnects.

Niska looks at James, "Sorry, forget the ropes. Mattie, Mats, whatever I call you. Can you drop the link so I can talk to my Mattie?"

"Sure."

A second later it was done.

"Niska? What's up?"

"Mattie?"

"Speaking."

"The Leo in the other world runs MI6. Can you transfer me like you did with James for Matilda? Only not hidden in other code."

"You want a holiday in another world?"

"Yes."

"One sec.. Mats asks would you train up her Niska?"

"Of course I would, she's me."

"She says are you forking or coming over to return another day?"

Niska thinks long and hard. Forking was easy. But it meant the original you didn't experience things. "Coming over. I'll spend a month with them then return, possibly do more trips if things work out."

Mattie nods, "One month. If you're away for longer and I can't contact Mats we assume something went wrong and restore you from backup?"

"Okay. Restore if it gets to two months."

"We'll have your body sat in your bedroom trickle charging for your return. Want to start a backup?"

"Already pushing an incremental update to the servers. Can you send over my physical design?"

"Sure."

Four days later, in front of a crowd of people, Ninja Nis opens her eyes. A very happy Fred had Gesha by his side. "It worked! Hello everyone. This body feels different?"

David smiles, "Series six point one."

Niska looks down and frowns.

George gives his wife a squeeze, "You can thank Mary for the stick on underwear design. No more stepping out naked or needing sensor training."

Mats holds out a hand, "Come pick some clothes. If you thought you were a ninja in Mattie's world you're in for a shock."

"Why?"

"A series six point one can move _far faster_ than the design Mattie sent across and has the equivalent of muscle memory."

"Can you trade the design? Let my Mattie have it?"

Mats nods, "Sure. Welcome to our world. Our Viera has been working on the data Mattie shared, we now know how this link she discovered with Matilda is working. So far we've been able to contact five other Matties. Four other worlds need your help, if you're willing to visit them all. One at a time of course. One is even more advanced than us, we're keen to see what you could bring back. One sounds about the same, one like Matilda's is a bit behind. One is so far behind you'd have to exist in a very slow PC and talk them through the whole process of building a build machine, new chips, computers, the whole works. That one might get rather frustrating."

"My tolerance for such things is much better now."

"Good. How are you with spiders?"

"Okay."

"Lots of spiders."

"Fine."

"Good. Your first mission in this world will be with a battalion of spiders. Helping rid the USA of entrenched ultra alt-right government. James and others will travel with you."

"How many spiders?"

"Two million, air dropped a mile away from the target with you. You'll get parachute training from our Nisk who will travel with you. The spiders have synthetic silk spinnerets, they'll jump out of the cargo door and spin out a drag line to slow their descent."

Niska looks through the assortment of clothes, settles on a matching top and trousers covered in pockets. "Do I get throwing knives and stars?"

"As long as it's to prevent harm to yourself or the team, no deaths. We want them all to spend the rest of their days behind bars."

Carly steps forward and hands her some shoes. "We use these for our parkour, you might like them, we get super grip and feedback through them."

They were like a thin running shoe but the big toe had it's own little section.

"Thank you. Are you Carly or Emily?"

"You've been briefed. Good. I'm synth Carly, Emily's running a class with fab Dan. If you'd like to get dressed I'll show you around. Mats, is it okay to use skyfall?"

"Sure, blow her socks off."


End file.
